An apparatus and a method are provided for treating a targeted area of ocular tissue in a tissue sparing manner comprising use of two or more therapeutic modalities including thermal radiation source (such as an CW infrared fiber laser) operative in a wavelength range that has a high absorption in water and photochemical collagen cross linking (CXL) together with one or more specific system improvements such as peri operative feedback measurements for tailoring of the therapeutic modalities an ocular tissue surface thermal control/cooling mechanism and a source of deuterated water/ riboflavin solution in a delivery system targeting ocular tissue in the presence of the ultraviolet radiation. Additional methods of rapid cross linking (RXL) are provided that further enables cross linking (CXL) therapy to be combined with thermal therapy.
