The excimer laser produces an invisible beam of ultraviolet light which can remove microscopic amounts of corneal tissue without causing damage to surrounding cells. This elegant surgical tool is so precise that it can etch microscopic layers off a human hair. To achieve most correction, a microscopic amount of corneal tissue-approximately a third the thickness of a human hair-is sculpted from the surface of the eye in a series of 10 pulses per second. Each pulse removes a quarter of a micron of tissue (one hundred thousandths of an inch). This precision assures total control of the correction process.
