Importance

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Abstract

An ultrasonically driven phaco tip and an interocular procedure for emulsifying a lense of an eye. The tip includes a flat distal end which has a pair of adjacent shoulders. The flat end creates a more efficient cutting surface. The shoulders provide a relatively large surface area that focuses ultrasonic pressure waves into the bubbles of an irrigation fluid that surrounds the tip. The focused pressure waves induce cavitation within the fluid and emulsification of the lense tissue. A lense may be emulsified by inserting the phaco tip into the anterior chamber of an eye and sculpting a bowl in the center of the lense. The tip is then rotated to a vertical position and used to cut a groove in the lense. The groove may be widen by another pass of the phaco tip so that the tip and a splitting instrument can be inserted into the widen groove. The tip and instrument are then pulled in opposite directions to crack the lense. Alternatively, the lense can be cracked by merely rotating the phaco tip while the tip is within the groove. The process of cutting grooves and cracking the lense is repeated to create a number of small lense fragments. The tip is then rotated to a horizontal position to emulsify and aspirate the lense tissue.

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First Claim