Corneal Ablation

Synonyms

Corneal ablation; Keratectomy; Keratomileusis

Definition

Corneal ablation is the removal of tissue over a defined region using a laser, typically an excimer laser.

History

In the 1980s Steven Trokel investigated the use of the excimer laser to remove fine layers of corneal tissue for the correction of ametropia. Excimer lasers emit light in the UV range. In contrast to many lasers in the visible range such as the argon laser, the excimer laser does not induce thermal effects on the tissue but disrupts the molecular bonds leading to a disintegration (“vaporization”) of surface tissue with minimal collateral damage. This characteristic allowed a novel type of extremely precise (μm range) and highly reproducible tissue engineering, the excimer laser ablation. The classical domain of the excimer laser is corneal refractive surgery; however it has been used in keratoplasty in the pre-femtosecond laser era (Seitz et al. 1999). Excimer ablations have also been performed for...