Surgery using lasers, e.g. for the removal of tumours, sealing blood vessels, or the correction of shortsightedness.
Use of a narrow, highly concentrated beam of light, focused through a microscope, to do extremely precise, delicate surgery; a kind of microsurgery. In eye surgery, for example, lasers can be used in treating tears in the retina, retinopathy, macular degeneration, glaucoma, and removal of cataracts. Laser beams may also be used in a wide variety of other ways, including some kinds of sterilization, removal of small birthmarks or scar tissue, and destruction of abnormal or cancer cells.
The use of a concentrated, pulsating beam of light to perform surgical procedures such as shrinking, destroying, or removing tumors or lesions; cutting, burning, sculpting, or vaporizing tissue; and sealing blood vessels. Because laser wavelengths can be adjusted to focus selectively, lasers are uniquely suitable to many forms of dermatologic or plastic surgery. At high intensity, the concentrated beam of light released by a laser can destroy cells on which it is focused and cut through tissues without causing bleeding. Laser surgery is also used to relieve the pressure of glaucoma and to treat diseases and disorders of the eyes such as retinal detachment, macular degeneration, and the blurred vision that occurs after cataract surgery. It is used by ophthalmologists to correct common eye problems such as nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism through refractive surgery. Lasers can be used to break up kidney stones and pulverize gallstones. In gynecology, they are used to vaporize fibroid tumors, destroy precancerous lesions, and remove the excess tissue of endometriosis.