Patent ID: RE40184

Claim:
A method of performing refractive surgery by reshaping a portion of corneal tissue, said method comprising the steps of: selecting a gas laser generated by transverse electrical discharge in a mixture of neural gases including at least helium gas and having a pulsed output beams of predetermined mid-IR wavelength of (2.7-3.2) microns; selecting a beam spot controller mechanism, said spot controller consisting of an internal magentic coupler integrated inside the laser cavity having a pin-hole size of about (2-10) mm; focusing the output beam to a spot size of about (0.05-2.5) mm on the corneal surface; selecting a scanning mechanism for scanning said selected laser output beam; coupling said laser beam to a scanning device for scanning said laser beam over a predetermined corneal surface area to remove corneal tissue, whereby a patient's vision is corrected by reshaping the cornea.