BI-RADIAL PATIENT INTERFACE

1 . A method of docking a patient interface of an ophthalmic surgical laser system to an eye, the method comprising:

determining R(central-cornea), a radius of curvature of a central portion of a cornea of the eye, and R(peripheral-cornea-sclera), a radius of curvature characteristic of a peripheral portion of the cornea and a sclera of the eye;

selecting a contact element with a central portion having a central radius of curvature Rc and a peripheral portion having a peripheral radius of curvature Rp that is greater than Rc, wherein

Rc is less than R(central-cornea)+1 mm, and

Rp is less than R(peripheral-cornea-sclera)+1 mm; and

docking the patient interface of the ophthalmic surgical laser system with the selected contact element to the eye.

2 . The method of claim 22 , the selecting comprising:

selecting a contact element, wherein

Rc is less than R(central-cornea)+0.5 mm, and

Rp is less than R(peripheral-cornea-sclera)+0.5 mm.

3 . The method of claim 22 , the selecting comprising:

selecting the contact element with Rc less than R(central-cornea).

4 . The method of claim 22 , wherein:

the selected contact element is inserted into the patient interface before docking.

5 . The method of claim 22 , the selecting comprising:

selecting the patient interface from a set of patient interfaces that has the selected contact element.

6 . The method of claim 22 , the determining comprising:

generating an image of an anterior portion of the eye; and

determining R(central-cornea) and R(peripheral-cornea-sclera) from the image.

7 . The method of claim 27 , the generating comprising:

generating a depth-image with at least one of an Optical Coherence Tomography system, a Scheimpflug system and a slit lamp system.