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THE EXCIMER LASER - ITS HISTORY Scientists at IBM were experimenting back in the 1970's with different gas elements to create new lasers. By mixing different gases together, they could produce laser energy of varying wavelengths.
The highly sophisticated excimer laser used light energy to correct focusing problems by vaporizing away a small amount of tissue from the central area of the cornea for nearsightedness and from the mid-periphery of the cornea for farsightedness.
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The excimer laser's potential was discovered by Dr. Srinivasin, a photochemist at IBM. Dr. Srinivasin was working in a research laboratory on a laser system to cut plastics and other organic materials. IBM used the laser industrially to etch computer microchips because of the extremely fine precision and smoothness of the excimer laser beam cuts. Dr. Srinivasin found that the 193 nanometer wavelength of laser energy could remove molecules of tissue with virtually no heat or damage to the surrounding tissue. This laser process was termed, 'photoablation', meaning 'vaporization through the use of laser light'.
By the early 1980's he realized the potential for the excimer laser to interact with biological tissue. Ophthalmologist, Steven Trokel, working with Srinivasin, introduced the idea of using the excimer laser to reshape the cornea. The first patient to undergo laser vision correction was treated in Germany in 1988 by Dr. Ted Siler.
Most surgical laser beams effect tissue by producing heat that burns it, or by producing a shock wave that separates tissue with micro-implosions. The excimer laser is different. It uses a charged mixture of argon and fluorine gases to produce a cool beam of ultra violet light. The beam is unique because it breaks the molecular bonds between cells and vaporizes tissue, one microscopic layer at a time. The excimer precisely sculpts tissue with almost no effect on the surrounding tissue. This ability makes it ideal for changing the shape of the cornea. There are two procedures, PRK and LASIK, which use this unparalleled precision by applying computer controlled pulses of laser light to reshape the eye to correct nearsightedness, astigmatism, and farsightedness.