Patent ID: 8092526

Claim:
Annular cornea implant for inserting into a cornea pocket of the human eye via a narrow access to the cornea pocket to correct a refractive error of the eye, comprising: i. a starting shape comprising a circular or elliptical ring body having a ring width and a ring height, said ring body further comprising a plurality of starting dimensions disabling insertion of the cornea implant into the cornea pocket via the narrow access, said plurality of starting dimensions comprising a starting shape outer dimension selected from the group consisting of a diameter ranging from 4 mm to 12 mm and a minor axis ranging from 4 mm to 12 mm, ii. a deformability into an intermediate shape, said intermediate shape being generated from the starting shape by laterally compressing the cornea implant in such a way to form intermediate dimensions comprising an intermediate shape outer dimension smaller than the starting shape outer dimension to enable the insertion of the implant into the cornea pocket via the narrow access, and iii. an adjustment force which enables independent unfolding from the intermediate shape into an end shape to be adopted after inserting the cornea implant into the cornea pocket via the narrow access, the end shape comprising ending dimensions comprising an end shape outer dimension larger than the intermediate shape outer dimension, wherein the ring body has an impressed shape memory from at least one of a material of the ring body and a geometry of the ring body such that in the starting shape the ring body is disposed in a ring level extending in first and second dimensions, in the intermediate shape a part of the ring body is deviated from the ring level into a third dimension orthogonal to at least one component of a compression force applied to the ring body to form the intermediate shape, and after inserting the cornea implant into the cornea pocket via the narrow access the end shape is adopted as a result of independent unfolding of the ring body caused by the adjustment force; and wherein the annular cornea implant comprises an intracorneal implant.