At least fourteen companies are developing new corneal shaping refractive surgery procedures. In addition to these emerging technologies, conventional surgical techniques are also being used to modify its shape. Three dimensional shape information about the cornea IS critical to planing and monitoring these procedures. Our 3-D Coreometer 20/20 (US patent number 4,761,071) is designed to obtain a three dimensional Cartesian Coordinate (X, Y, and Z data point) surface map of the front of the eye. Measurements are based on the principle of chief ray triangulation. Sodium fluorescein is instilled in the eye, and an excitation wavelength calibrated light pattern is projected onto it. The fluorescein emission light pattern is imaged, and the location of the calibrated points are used to geometrically determine the shape of the surface from the intersection of the projected chef ray and the imaged chief ray. They obtained equally well from both normal and irregular corneas. Phase I funding will be used for preclinical testing of the 3-D Coreometer 20/20 and to provide clinical enhancements to the software. Phase II funding will be used to conduct clinical outcome testing for therapeutic applications.Awardee's statement of the potential commercial applications of the research:Third party market projections are for 500 units in 1993 and 2,500 in 1995. Applications include refractive corneal procedures, corneal surgical procedures, disease diagnosis and monitoring, and custom therapeutic contact lens design, manufacture and fitting.National Eye Institute (NEI)
