Axicon: a new laser beam delivery system for corneal surgery

A new laser beam delivery system using axicon beam shaping has been designed to produce controllable surface ablation as well as trephination for the corneal surgery. Noncontact cornea trephination was performed on human eye-bank eyes by using a Q-switched Er:YAG laser with a axicon-lens combination. The results shows that the uniformity of the trephination along the ring depends on the radial symmetry of the beam. The histological results of the samples show that the damage zone of the laser cut is less than 10 mu m. This demonstrates the possibility of replacing mechanical trephination in corneal surgery.<
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