Patent ID: 6059774
Filing Date: 2000-05-09
Classification: A61F

Abstract:
An apparatus for ablating matter from a substrate comprising:a laser emitting a laser beam having a beam path and of a suitable wavelength;an optical system coupled to the laser and directing said laser to form a laser spot on a surface area of the substrate to be treated, and said optical system directing the laser beam in a pattern to create a vision correcting ablation profile suitable for reprofiling the surface of a cornea through volumetric removal yielding altered refractive characteristics; anda mask independent of the optical system arranged within the beam path of the laser for shading part of the substrate such that a plurality of exposed and unexposed sections are simultaneously formed on the substrate to be treated, wherein the mask is successively readjusted so that a sum of ablations yields an ablation profile that is proportional to the vision correcting ablation profile, and wherein the exposed and unexposed sections are distributed over the substrate to be treated such that the amount of laser light falling on a substrate over the sum of ablations is dependent on the optical system rather than the mask.