Ultrashort-pulse laser eye surgery uses fiber technology at 1.6 microns

New, compact, and wavelength-optimized ultrashort-pulse laser sys-tems may facilitate corneal grafting and enable new forms of glaucoma surgery. The strongly localized interactions of ultrashort laser pulses with tissue make femtosecond lasers a powerful tool for eye surgery.1, 2 These lasers are now routinely used in refractive surgery, while several clinical laser systems also offer options for corneal grafting, a surgical procedure that involves replacing all or part of a pathological cornea (the eye’s transparent front sec-tion, covering the iris, pupil, and anterior chamber) by donated corneal tissue. Recent studies have also examined the option of performing a surgical procedure in the sclera (the white part of the eye) for the treatment of glaucoma.3 These new forms of laser eye surgery need to take into ac-count the limited tissular transparency. In a pathological cornea