È. N. Sobol', A. V. Bolshunov, N. N. Vorobieva, A. I. Omel'chenko, O. L. Zakharkina, N. Yu. Ignat'eva, T. E. Grokhovskaya, V. V. Lunin, “Correction of eye refraction by nonablative laser action on thermomechanical properties of cornea and sclera”, Kvantovaya Elektronika, 2002, Volume 32, Number 10,Pages <nobr>909

This article is cited in 9 papers

SPECIAL ISSUE ON LASER DIAGNOSTICS IN BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE

Correction of eye refraction by nonablative laser action on thermomechanical properties of cornea and sclera

È. N. Sobol'^a, A. V. Bolshunov^b, N. N. Vorobieva^a, A. I. Omel'chenko^a, O. L. Zakharkina^a, N. Yu. Ignat'eva^c, T. E. Grokhovskaya^c, V. V. Lunin^c

^a Institute of Laser and Information Technologies, Russian Academy of Sciences, Troitsk, Moscow Region
^b Research Institute of Eye Diseases, Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Moscow
^c Lomonosov Moscow State University, Faculty of Chemistry

Abstract: A new approach is proposed for correcting the eye refraction by controlled variation of the mechanical properties of the sclera and cornea upon nondestructive laser heating. Experimental ex vivo studies of rabbit and pig eyes show that laser-induced local denaturation of the sclera changes the refraction of the cornea by 3 diopters on the average, and the subsequent nondestructive irradiation of the cornea increases its plasticity, which leads to a further increase in its radius of curvature and a decrease in refraction down to 7 diopters.

PACS: 87.50.Hj, 42.66.Ct, 42.62.Be

Received: 30.04.2002