Therapeutic eye treatment with gases

1. An apparatus to maintain an environment over an anterior surface of a patient eye comprising:

an enclosure sized and shaped to form a cavity over the anterior surface of the patient eye, the cavity configured to contain a fluid other than ambient air in contact with the patient eye;

a fluid regulator, in communication with the cavity, configured to regulate the composition of the fluid contained within the cavity;

a manifold including a mixing chamber, in communication with the fluid regulator and the cavity, configured to adjust the composition of the fluid contained within the cavity, and a pump in communication with the cavity, configured to apply non-ambient pressure to the fluid contained within the cavity.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the fluid is a gaseous fluid.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the gaseous fluid includes a specified non-ambient percentage of at least one of carbon dioxide (CO2), oxygen (O2), or nitric oxide (NO).

4. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the gaseous fluid includes a specified non-ambient percentage of carbon dioxide (CO2).

5. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the gaseous fluid includes a specified non-ambient percentage of oxygen (O2).

6. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the gaseous fluid includes a specified non-ambient percentage of nitric oxide (NO).

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , comprising a processor module including a control circuit with a user-defined set point, in communication with the fluid regulator; and

a sensor, in communication with the processor module, configured to sense at least one of an indication of the eye or an indication of a parameter of an environment within the cavity,

wherein the fluid regulator includes a servo valve and the control circuit is configured to adjust the servo valve to change the composition of the fluid contained within the cavity.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the sensor configured to detect at least one of an indication of the eye or an indication of a parameter of an environment within the cavity includes the sensor configured to detect an indication of the eye.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the sensor configured to detect an indication of the eye includes an optical coherence tomography (OCT) system configured to sense a change in the deflection of the lamina cribrosa.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the sensor configured to detect an indication of the eye includes a non-contact blood vessel characteristic detector configured to sense a change in the caliber of a blood vessel.

11. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the sensor configured to detect at least one of an indication of the eye or an indication of a parameter of an environment within the cavity includes the sensor configured to detect an indication of a parameter of an environment within the cavity.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the sensor configured to detect an indication of a parameter of an environment within the cavity includes a non-invasive optical oxygen sensor configured to sense an indication of oxygen level within the cavity.

13. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the pump to apply non-ambient pressure to the fluid contained within the cavity includes the pump configured to apply negative gauge pressure to the cavity.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the pump configured to apply negative gauge pressure to the cavity includes the pump configured to apply negative gauge pressure to the cavity in a range of between about −40 mmHg and about 0 mmHg.

15. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the pump to apply non-ambient pressure to the fluid contained within the cavity includes the pump configured to apply positive gauge pressure to the cavity.