Mechanisms of corneal intrastromal laser dissection for refractive surgery: ultra-high-speed photographic investigation at up to 50 million frames per second

Every year, more than a million refractive eye surgeries using femtosecond lasers are performed but the intrastromal cutting process remains an area of development. We investigated the mechanisms of laser dissection in cornea by ultra-high-speed photography. We found that the intrastromal bubble forms multiple lobes along the elongated laser plasma and the overlying lobes expand along the corneal lamellae. Videography demonstrated that the cutting process relies on crack propagation in the stroma along the bubble lobes with the crack originating from the pre-existing bubble layer. These insights are important for further improvement of the cutting mechanisms in refractive surgery. (c) 2022 Optica Publishing Group under the terms of the Optica Open Access Publishing Agreement

Automated summary

This study investigates the mechanisms of laser dissection in cornea using ultra-high-speed photography and finds that the cutting process relies on crack propagation along the bubble lobes. These insights are important for improving the cutting mechanisms in refractive surgery.