Subsurface femtosecond photodisruption for glaucoma surgery

Summary form only given. Over five million people worldwide have become blind due to complications arising from glaucoma. In the United States alone, over two million people have glaucoma and are already at risk of becoming blind. Current treatments to prevent blindness concentrate on reducing the elevated pressure in the eye associated with glaucoma. Conventional mechanical glaucoma surgeries to create drainage channels often fail due to damage to the overlying tissues, infection, and lack of precision. Femtosecond photodisruption provides a method for producing a subsurface precise surgery as has already been shown in the transparent cornea. To achieve the tight focusing necessary for photodisruption in the highly scattering sclera, the authors induced transparency using a dehydrating agent. For the first time to their knowledge, they demonstrate subsurface channels in the sclera for potential glaucoma and presbyopia surgeries. In addition, the authors show 10 micron features and highly localized collateral damage.