Laser ablation is applied to a patient's cornea in a circumscribed fashion, while controlling energy flux, beam exposure diameter and exposure time to achieve removal of a central corneal disc of tissue in a volumetric fashion. The concavity produced is filled in with donor corneal tissue to effect restoration of the anterior cornea, both anatomically and optically, as may be required in removing an anterior corneal opacity. In addition, the patient's ablated corneal bed or the posterior donor corneal stroma may have optical refractive power imposed upon it, thereby affecting correction of optical errors of the eye, such as myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism, optical aberrations or combinations thereof, upon placement of the donor tissue within the patient's bed. Synthetic material, fashioned appropriately, may also be used to cover the patient's exposed corneal bed, or placed on the bed and covered with donor tissue to achieve correction of these same optical errors.