Preliminary report on corneal incisions created by a hydrogen fluoride laser.

We created corneal incisions in eye bank eyes with a pulsed hydrogen fluoride infrared laser. This laser was selected because its emission spectrum (2.7 to 3.0 micron) closely corresponds to the absorption peak of water in the infrared region. Short pulses (200 nsec) of hydrogen fluoride laser light focused with a cylindrical lens resulting in radiant exposures of 1.3 J/cm2 at the corneal surface created linear cuts in the cornea with minimal thermal damage adjacent to the incision, suggesting that the pulsed hydrogen fluoride laser may be useful for corneal surgery.