Method and apparatus for stabilizing the cornea

So far, to stabilize the cornea in keratoconus, a crosslinking agent is applied and irradiated the entire cornea over a relatively long period of time with UV light, which is unpleasant for the patient and can lead to tissue damage. The invention will make it possible to stabilize the cornea with fewer side effects. In particular, greater stability and a shorter duration of treatment should be made possible. For this purpose, the cornea is irradiated successively at different positions locally such that the collagen fibers are directly or indirectly linked to each other at the irradiated areas. The collagen fibers are thus linked advantageously spatially resolved. In this way, not all of the eye needs to be irradiated with gewebeschadigendem UV light and can be selectively localized areas stabilized with a weak structure. Preferably, the locations of the cornea to be irradiated such that the collagen fibers are ionized by each photo-absorption of several photons each having an energy below an ionization energy of the molecule in question. After a short time treatment strong covalent bonds are formed directly between the collagen fibers. can be completely dispensed with the use of crosslinking agents. Therapy for keratoconus, post-refractive surgery