Systems and Methods for Disruption of an Eye Lens

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for ablating a lens of an eye. An access incision is made through outer eye tissue to access the lens. A laser tool is inserted through the access incision. Electromagnetic energy is focused using the inserted laser tool to ablate a portion of the lens, where said ablation breaks the lens into a plurality of pieces for removal from the eye.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . Apparatus for ablating a lens of an eye, comprising:
 a light configured to project, onto the lens of the eye, a visible light pattern that follows a circumferential path along a periphery of the lens;   a laser hand tool including a tip configured to be inserted through an access incision through outer eye tissue to access the lens;   the tip configured to be moved along the circumferential path defined by the visible light pattern while the tip remains inserted through the access incision and ablates a portion of the lens along the circumferential path;   the laser hand tool including an irrigation port configured to introduce water through the tip to a lens treatment site using a spray, the irrigation port further configured to produce the spray having characteristics useful to loosen fragments of the ablated lens.   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the light is configured to project a first part of the ablation pattern which is substantially circular in shape and located on or near an outside edge of the lens. 
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 2 , wherein the laser hand tool is configured to project a second part of the ablation pattern within the substantially circular first part, the second part of the ablation pattern having to ablate the lens into a plurality of pieces. 
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the access incision is an incision made through a conjunctiva of the eye outside of a radius of the lens. 
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the tip is a flexible laser tip that projects outward from the tool. 
     
     
         6 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the laser tip is a side-firing laser tip or a radial-firing laser tip. 
     
     
         7 . The apparatus of  claim 6 , wherein the flexible laser tip is a side-firing laser tip or a radial-firing laser tip. 
     
     
         8 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the electromagnetic energy is focused using a computer-implemented scanner. 
     
     
         9 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the apparatus is configured to focus the ablating electromagnetic energy on portions of the lens only where the sprayed water is present. 
     
     
         10 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the laser tool further includes an aspiration port and a suction generator for removing the plurality of pieces of the lens via suction following ablation of the lens. 
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 focusing electromagnetic energy on germination cells that remain in the eye following the ablation of the lens to ablate the germination cells.