An ophthalmic laser procedure for forming a lenticule in a cornea and extracting the lenticule from the cornea to accomplish vision correction. An ophthalmic laser system is used to form top and bottom lenticule incisions defining a lenticule in between, and further to form top and/or bottom entry cuts that respectively end unambiguously near the top or bottom lenticule surface. The bottom entry cut intersects both the top and bottom lenticule incisions but ends near the bottom lenticule incision. The entry cuts allow the surgeon to insert a surgical tool which reaches the intended top or bottom lenticule surface without ambiguity. The lenticule has an optical zone in the center that defines the optical power of the lenticule, and a transition zone in the periphery, where the end points of the entry cuts are located in the transition zone.