The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 08, 2001
Filed:
Jan. 10, 2000
Herbert E. Kaufman, New Orleans, LA (US);
Board of Supervisors of Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, Baton Rouge, LA (US);
Abstract
An intracorneal astigmatic, rectangular onlay has been discovered that can correct for astigmatism by physically adjusting the shape of the cornea. This astigmatic onlay can be narrow or wide and can easily be placed in the stroma of the cornea. The onlay can be placed on top of a laser ablation or on a spherical lens, which in turn was implanted either under a tissue flap or in a stromal pocket. The astigmatic onlay is easy to position at precisely the correct angle to compensate for the astigmatism-causing meridional distortion. This invention greatly increases the utility and practicality of intracorneal spherical lenses and makes it easy to position the astigmatic correcting ridge at precisely the correct angle to compensate for the astigmatism. The invention greatly decreases the inventory needed to compensate for both spherical and astigmatic corrections. For example, spherical corrections from +5 D to −5 D at 0.25 D intervals might require 40 lenses, but with this invention the addition of a correction for astigmatism up to 5 D at 0.25 D increments would require only 20 additional onlays, for a total of 60 lenses and onlays. By contrast, 800 lenses are required for the same range of corrections if a single lens is used to correct for both astigmatism and spherical errors.