A Closer Look at Laser Surgery - By: Anna Peacocks

Laser was first used for surgical and therapeutic purposes since early 1960s. Over many years of scientific research, laser technology and equipment has rapidly developed and advanced. Laser technology is now widely-employed in surgeries such as laser eye surgery and cosmetic laser surgery, cancer laser surgery and etc.

Unlike conventional surgery, laser surgery uses laser light source as a replacement for a scalpel. Types of laser light source that are commonly-used are carbon dioxide, pulsed dye and yttrium aluminium garnet (YAG) lasers. Each laser light beam appears with unique colour. Type of laser used in a surgery is closely related to the nature of the surgery and the colour of targeted tissue.

Laser beam emits heat to destroy targeted dead or ill tissues. Similarly, in soft tissue laser surgery, laser vaporizes soft tissue which is highly rich in water. Apart from cutting tissues, laser surgery can also be used to prevent or reduce bleeding from blood vessels. In addition, it is performed to cure skin swelling and removes tattoo, hairs, wrinkles and birthmarks. Besides these, it is often employed to remove brain or liver tumours with as lightest damage and scarring as possible. Furthermore, laser surgery has proven to be remarkably efficient in killing tumour cell and controlling its rate of growth. Laser surgery is also useful in sealing nerve endings in order to minimize post-surgery pain. Another common application is laser eye surgery. The most popular technique amongst all types of laser eye surgeries is known as laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis (LASIK). Similar to normal surgical vision corrective procedure, LASIK permanently reshapes the cornea and treats near-, far-sighted and other vision problems. This provides an alternative for people who are trying to get rid of contact lens and spectaculars.

Every surgery has its own risks and inevitable consequences. This applies to laser surgery too. There are possibilities that it may cause infection, pain, bleeding, changing of skin colour and incomplete cure of illness.

Looking at the advantages of laser surgery, it is still worth a try. One of the significant advantages is that patient's recovery period after surgery is generally shorter. Yet, the outcome is comparably with that of conventional surgery. For some cases, the recovery period for patient is even almost negligible.

About the Author

Anna has been writing articles online for nearly 3 years now. She recently went for a medical checkup at Penang Hospital, which is one of the top Malaysia hospital.

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