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Cornea epithelial damage thresholds in rabbits exposed to Tm:YAG laser radiation at 2.02 μm
Author(s) -
McCally Russell L.,
Farrell Richard A.,
Bargeron C. Brent
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
lasers in surgery and medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.888
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1096-9101
pISSN - 0196-8092
DOI - 10.1002/lsm.1900120605
Subject(s) - laser , cornea , optics , radiation , materials science , irradiation , continuous wave , laser beams , radiation damage , infrared , beam (structure) , biomedical engineering , medicine , physics , nuclear physics
We have determined exposure conditions for minimal damage to the corneal epithelium in rabbit using a continuous wave Tm: YAG laser operating in the TEM oo mode at incident powers between 80 and 450 mW. The 1/e beam diameter was 0.94 mm and exposure durations for threshold damage ranged from 4.3 to 0.08 sec. Calculated temperature increases on the beam axis 10 μm beneath the surface at the measured thresholds were essentially constant and averaged 44°C. This is basically the same temperature increase found for threshold CO 2 laser damage and suggests that the critical temperature damage model, which correlates CO 2 laser damage, can predict damage thresholds for mid‐infrared laser radiation. We also showed that reliable thresholds can be determined in freshly enucleated eyes, thus opening up the possibility of using available laser sources in laboratories not equipped and approved for animal experiments to determine damage thresholds. © 1992 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.