Abstract: An apparatus is provided for aligning an implant with a visual axis of an eye of a patient. The apparatus has an instrument with an instrument axis and an aperture through which the patient may look along the instrument axis. The implant includes an aperture having an implant axis that can be positioned substantially collinear with the instrument axis. The implant further includes a substantially opaque annulus extending between the aperture and an outer periphery of the implant. The annulus has a nutrient transport structure for conveying nutrients between anterior and posterior surfaces of the implant.

Abstract: A method and system is described that greatly improves the safety and efficacy of ophthalmic laser surgery. The method and system are applicable to precise operations on a target subject to movement during the procedure. The system may comprise the following elements: (1) a user interface, (2) an imaging system, which may include a surgical microscope, (3) an automated tracking system that can follow the movements of an eye, (4) a laser, (5) a diagnostic system, and (6) a fast reliable safety means, for automatically interrupting the laser firing.

Abstract: A method, apparatus and system for template-controlled, precision laser interventions is described that greatly improves interventions such as laser microsurgery, particularly ophthalmic surgery, and industrial micromachining. The instrument and system are applicable to those specialties wherein the positioning accuracy of laser lesions is critical, such as whenever precise operations on a target or series of targets subject to movement during the procedure are to be effected. The system includes a user interface, wherein the user can either draw, adjust, or designate particular template patterns overlaid on a live video images of the target (such as the cornea) which are stabilized and produce an apparently stationary display of the target and provide the means for converting the template pattern into a sequence of automatic motion instructions to direct a laser beam to be sequentially applied replicating the designated template pattern into the corresponding surgical or industrial site.

Abstract: A method, apparatus and system for a transverse tracker is described that can greatly improve the accuracy, speed, range, reliability, versatility, safety, and efficacy of interventions such as laser microsurgery, particularly ophthalmic surgery, and industrial micromachining. The instrument and system disclosed are applicable to those situations wherein the positioning accuracy of laser lesions is critical, and/or whenever precise operations on a target or series of targets subject to random movement during a procedure are to be effected. The present invention provides means for stabilizing the motion of targets in a plane perpendicular to the axial direction, thus allowing an imaging system, diagnostics illumination, and/or laser beam to maintain a lock on the target area, regardless of its movement.

Abstract: A method and system is described that greatly improves the safety and efficacy of ophthalmic laser surgery. The method and system are applicable to precise operations on a target subject to movement during the procedure. The system may comprise the following elements: (1) a user interface, (2) an imaging system, which may include a surgical microscope, (3) an automated tracking system that can follow the movements of an eye, (4) a laser, (5) a diagnostic system, and (6) a fast reliable safety means, for automatically interrupting the laser firing.

Abstract: A method, apparatus and system for template-controlled, precision laser interventions is described that greatly improves the accuracy, speed, range, reliability, versatility, safety, and efficacy of interventions such as laser microsurgery, particularly ophthalmic surgery, and industrial micromachining. The instrument and system are applicable to those specialties wherein the positioning accuracy of laser lesions is critical, wherever accurate containment of the spatial extent of a laser lesion is desirable, and/or whenever precise operations on a target or series of targets subject to movement during the procedure are to be effected.

Abstract: An apparatus and method provides images of the anterior structure of the eye which can be captured. Various slit lamp projections are captured by a camera utilizing a CCD along the line of sight axis so that all images which are taken are referenced to the line of sight and are reproducible along that axis.

Abstract: An apparatus and method provides images of the anterior structure of the eye which can be captured. Various slit lamp projections are captured by a camera utilizing a CCD along the line of sight axis so that all images which are taken are referenced to the line of sight and are reproducible along that axis.

Abstract: A method, apparatus and system for a transverse tracker is described that can greatly improve the accuracy, speed, range, reliability, versatility, safety, and efficacy of interventions such as laser microsurgery. The present invention provides means for stabilizing the motion of targets in a plane perpendicular to the axial direction, thus allowing an imaging system, diagnostics illumination, and/or laser beam to maintain a lock on the target area, regardless of its movement. Unique attributes provided in the tracking system include means for (1) sensing contrast in recognizable large scale boundaries such as the change between the cornea/sclera interface (limbus), thereby to determine the absolute location and orientation of these boundaries, all without having to resort to digital sampling techniques and (2) dual mode operation of an electronic control system compatible with all analog technologies, thereby substantially increasing the speed of operations over other, comparable digital method.

Abstract: The invention relates to a method and apparatus for uniquely and unambiguously aligning a patient's visual line of sight (LOS) to the optical axis of an ophthalmic instrument such as may be used for laser surgery or diagnostics. By the method of the invention, two alignment targets are imaged at different distances along the optical axis of the ophthalmic instrument. Viewing along the optical axis, a patient moves his or her eye until the two imaged targets are in alignment. When the two imaged targets are viewed in alignment by the patient, the patient's LOS is precisely aligned with the optical axis of the apparatus. By relying on the patient's ability to self-align, this technique ensures that measurements are taken within a reproducible reference frame that is unique to each patient but independent of the type of machine used.

Abstract: In a laser beam delivery system for a surgical laser beam, steering and scanning of the laser beam along the target in transverse (X and Y) directions is accomplished in a mechanically simple and fast-responding manner. Closely adjacent to the objective lens assembly of the delivery system is a pair of prisms, i.e. a Risley prism or Herschel prism, positioned on the axis of the approaching laser beam. The two prisms, closely spaced, are mounted on separate rotating stages whereby they may be individually rotated about the beam axis. When the prisms are co-rotated, circular scans are produced on the target, in diameters depending on the angular phase between the prisms. Counter rotation of the prisms at equal and opposite speeds will produce a diametric line scan on the target. Any desired complex scan pattern can be achieved using combinations of rotations of the two prisms.

Abstract: An improved apparatus and technique are disclosed for illuminating the cornea with points of light for analysis of the specularly reflected return light in determining the shape of the cornea. In combination with an optical illumination system which forms real images of points of light inside or in the path of the objective lens, the system of the invention includes a plurality of real light source points optically peripheral to the real image points and physically outside to the objective lens. The sources of the point light sources may be optical fibers or LEDs arranged in an array which optically extends radially outward from the objective lens, although the external points may be forward or back from the objective lens. The two types of point light sources are generally registered in a pattern and together form an ordered geometric array for providing paraxial reflections off the cornea over a wide area of the cornea, including both central and peripheral areas of the cornea.