The excimer laser is non-heat generating type of laser commonly used in refractive eye surgery. The first excimer laser was invented bin 1971 at the P. N. Lebedev Physical Institute in Moscow. Improvements were later made and patented by by George Hart and Stuart Searles of the United States Government's Naval Research Laboratory in 1975.
In the early 1980's. Dr. Samuel Blum , Dr. Rangaswamy Srinivasan and James Wynne of of IBM's T.J. Watson Research Center were observing the effect ogf the ultrviolet excimer laser on biologic materials. On further investigation, they determined that the clean precise cuts made by the laser would be ideal for delicate surgical procedures. Doctor Steven Trokel, a New York City ophthalmologist performed the first laser eye surgery on a patient in 1987. The FDA approved the use of the excimer laser for PRK (photo-refractive keratotomy) in 1996. A number of excimer laser have since been approved for lasik and other laser surgical vision procedures.
The excimer laser uses a process known as photoablation, which allows precise removal of removal of very minute amounts of tissue without the danger of heat damage to the organ. The actual penetration of the ultraviolet beam is less than a nanometer (a billionth of a meter) into the cornea itself. This fine microscopic removal of tissue is what allows the cornea to be sculpted with exact precision.
