Methods and apparatus for presbyopia correction using ultraviolet and infrared lasers

Abstract

Presbyopia is treated by a system using various lasers to remove a portion of the scleral tissue and increase the accommodation of the presbyopic patient's eye. Stable accommodation is achieved by the filling of the sub-conjunctiva tissue to the laser-ablated scleral areas. The proposed laser wavelength ranges from ultraviolet to infrared of (0.15-0.36) microns, (0.5-1.4) microns and (0.9-3.2) microns. Both scanning and fiber delivered systems are proposed to generate the ablation patterns. Laser ablation of the sclera may be conducted with or without opening the conjunctiva layer.

I claim:  
     
         1 . A laser beam ophthalmic surgery method for treating presbyopic patient by removing a portion of the scleral tissue of an eye in a predetermined pattern and area, whereby the accommodation of the presbyopic eye increases via the movement of the ciliary body and zonular fiber connected to the corneal lens of the eye.  
     
     
         2 . A laser beam ophthalmic surgery method for treating presbyopic patient by removing a portion of the scleral tissue of an eye in accordance with    claim 1    in which said movement of the ciliary body is provided by the increase of the flexibility of said laser beam ablated said scleral tissue which is filled in by the subconjunctiva tissue.  
     
     
         3 . A laser beam ophthalmic surgery method for treating presbyopic patient by removing portion of the scleral tissue of an eye in accordance with    claim 1    in which said predetermined pattern includes at least 3 radial lines around the area of the cornea outside the limbus and each radial line has a dimension of about (0.1-1.0) mm in width and (2.0-5.0) mm in length.  
     
     
         4 . A laser beam ophthalmic surgery method for treating presbyopic patient by removing portion of the scleral tissue of an eye in accordance with    claim 1    in which said predetermined area defined by the area outside the limbus and between two circles having diameter of about 10 mm and 18 mm.  
     
     
         5 . A laser beam ophthalmic surgery method for treating presbyopic patient by removing portion of the scleral tissue of an eye in accordance with    claim 1    in which said predetermined pattern includes at least 3 curved lines around the area of the cornea outside the limbus.  
     
     
         6 . A laser beam ophthalmic surgery method for treating presbyopic patient by removing portion of the scleral tissue of an eye in accordance with    claim 1    in which said predetermined pattern includes a dotted ring pattern around the area of the cornea outside the limbus and each dot has a size of about (0.1-2.0) mm in diameter.  
     
     
         7 . A laser beam ophthalmic surgery method for treating presbyopic patient by removing portion of the scleral tissue of an eye in accordance with    claim 1    in which said predetermined pattern is generated by a scanning mechanism.  
     
     
         8 . A laser beam ophthalmic surgery method for treating presbyopic patient by removing portion of the scleral tissue of an eye in accordance with    claim 1    in which said predetermined pattern is generated by a fiber-coupled device.  
     
     
         9 . A laser beam ophthalmic surgery method for treating presbyopic patient by removing portion of the scleral tissue of an eye in accordance with    claim 1    in which said predetermined pattern is generated by a translation device.  
     
     
         10 . A laser beam ophthalmic surgery method for treating presbyopic patient by removing portion of the scleral tissue of an eye in accordance with    claim 1    in which said predetermined pattern is generated by a mask which is non-transparent to the said laser beam.  
     
     
         11 . A laser beam ophthalmic surgery method for treating presbyopic patient by removing portion of the scleral tissue of an eye in accordance with    claim 1    in which said laser beam is a ultraviolet laser having a predetermined wavelength of about (0.15-0.36) microns.  
     
     
         12 . A laser beam ophthalmic surgery method for treating presbyopic patient by removing portion of the scleral tissue of an eye in accordance with    claim 1    in which said laser beam is an infrared laser having a predetermined wavelength of about (0.9-6.0) microns.  
     
     
         13 . A laser beam ophthalmic surgery method for treating presbyopic patient by removing portion of the scleral tissue of an eye in accordance with    claim 1    in which said laser beam is a short pulse solid state laser having a predetermined wavelength of about (0.5-1.4) microns and a pulse width of about one femtosecond to one nanoseconds.  
     
     
         14 . A laser beam ophthalmic surgery method for treating presbyopic patient by removing a portion of the scleral tissue of an eye in accordance with    claim 1    in which said laser beam is delivered to said predetermined area of the cornea by an optical fiber.  
     
     
         15 . A laser beam ophthalmic surgery method for treating presbyopic patient by removing a portion of the scleral tissue of an eye in accordance with    claim 1    in which said scleral tissue is ablated by said laser beam after the conjunctiva is open.  
     
     
         16 . A laser beam ophthalmic surgery method for treating presbyopic patient by removing a portion of the scleral tissue of an eye in accordance with    claim 1    in which said scleral tissue is ablated by said laser beam without opening the conjunctiva.  
     
     
         17 . A laser beam ophthalmic surgery method for treating presbyopic patient by removing a portion of the scleral tissue of an eye in accordance with    claim 12    in which said laser beam is tightly focused to a spot size of about (1-500) microns to selectively remove the sclera tissue underneath the conjunctiva layer.