Retinal thermal response to copper-vapor laser exposure.

A thermal model has been used for the interaction of an annular laser beam of a high-repetition-rate pulsed laser (copper-vapor laser) with the retina of a rabbit. The model predicts the temperature rise at each retinal point, during and after the laser exposure, as a function of pulse energy, exposure time, and pulse repetition rate. The retinal effects for each set of treatment parameters were estimated according to the predicted temperature rise and were found to be identical with our previous experimental results. The character of the interaction between the copper-vapor laser and the retina can be pretuned by the laser pulse repetition rate to fit the requirements of various treatments, permitting multiple uses of this laser for ophthalmic treatments.