MEDICAL, MILITARY & INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS


Supporting safe laser eye surgery


Dave Walsha, director of sales and marketing at stepper motor supplier Electro Mechanical Systems (EMS), explores the role of precise laser alignment in modern corrective eye surgeries.


A


ccording to UK Biobank data, around four per cent of the UK population has undergone laser vision correction (LVC)   advancements in effectiveness, healing 


LVC has become one of the most popular   It addresses vision problems like short- sightedness (myopia), long-sightedness (hyperopia) and astigmatism and can also treat more severe conditions like diabetic retinopathy and post-cataract 


The beginnings of LVC   Early techniques involved mechanical microkeratomes – surgical instruments with oscillating blades used to create a corneal  While effective, this method posed risks such as suboptimal vision from overly thick 


 microkeratomes less common in modern 





 revolutionised LVC by enabling more precise and predictable procedures like Femto    ten seconds per eye, improving patient comfort and reducing recovery times  More recently, small incision lenticule extraction (SMILE) has emerged as an alternative, particularly for patients with   Instead, the femtosecond laser carves a disc of corneal tissue, which is removed through   patients to resume physical activities more 


 Be it Femto LASIK or SMILE, none of the modern methods of laser eye correction would be possible without motor-controlled    rapid pulses, stepper motors are the ideal 


Stepper motors differ from other motor types, such as servo motors, in that they can operate with high precision even in an  an encoder is not required, simplifying both   Stepper motors have exceptional stopping accuracy and responsiveness, making them well suited to applications that demand high levels of precision, including LVC microsurgeries where optical components 


30 JUNE 2025 | ELECTRONICS FOR ENGINEERS


 performance, there are several things to  In order to function effectively without an encoder, the chosen motor should match the application’s size and rating  the application’s required step resolution,  EMS is a leading supplier of FAULHABER Precistep motors, which range from six to  can hold their position even when the power supply is turned off, thus avoiding the earlier issue faced by mechanical microkeratome procedures during power  ophthalmologists needn’t worry about reduced equipment performance or 


With around half of the global population  femtosecond-based laser eye surgery is  Precise motion control is essential not only to improve the effectiveness of the procedures, 


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