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EyeNet Magazine >> Blink
Blink
Chris Barry, FOPS, Lions Eye Institute,
Centre for Ophthalmology and Visual Science,
the University of Western Australia
 The answer to this month’s mystery image:
Excimer Ablation Debris
A single pulse from an excimer laser generated the wisp of vaporized tissue hovering over the bovine cornea seen here. The photograph was shot in the late 1980s during an experiment to determine optimum conditions for reproducible outcomes following excimer photorefractive surgery. The study measured ablation cut rates from individual pulses of the laser, evenness of cut and repeatability of energy profiles with PRK. Although LASIK is now the operation of choice for excimer photorefractive surgery, much of this early work remains relevant.
In order to achieve the effect in the photograph, the researcher switched off the laser’s vacuum pump. Under normal conditions, with the pump on, the postablation debris would have been sucked away between pulses. ___________________________
Blink is edited by Richard E. Hackel, MA, CRA
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