Laser Eyes Treatments
A method for surgical treatment of glaucoma by laser radiation comprising the steps of:
(a) passing one end of a fiberoptic element through a small perforation in an outermost encapsulating tissue of the eye after paracentesis thereof adjacent a limbal area of corneal-scleral tissue until said one end of said fiberoptic element penetrates into the eye's anterior chamber,
(b) transocularly advancing the fiberoptic element through the anterior chamber until the penetrating end of said element is juxtaposed immediately adjacent tissue targeted for treatment,
(c) coupling an opposite end of the fiberoptic element to a photoablative laser emitting radiation above an ablative threshold fluence level for effecting photochemical tissue ablation and focussing the radiation thereof being delivered through the transocularly-positioned fiberoptic element for impingement directly upon the targeted tissue,
(d) maintaining juxtaposition of the fiberoptic element as the radiation emitted from the penetrating end thereof effects ablative photo-decomposition of the targeted tissue to photochemically remove said targeted tissue until sclerectomy is adequate to relieve intraocular pressure, and
(e) withdrawing the fiberoptic element through the original paracentesis to create a filtering bleb such that the eye's sub-Tenon's space communicates with the anterior chamber.