PHYSICS

PRESENTATION
 USE OF LASER IN
MEDICAL FIELD AND
LASIK SURGERY

-MAHARSHI SONI (16BME088)

(F DIVISION)
LASER IN MEDICAL FIELD
Laser for medicine consists in the use of lasers in 
medical diagnosis, treatments, or therapies, such as
laser photodynamic therapy.
Low level laser therapy (LLLT) is typically used for
therapeutic and stimulating skin treatments and
involves lower laser power doses than those generally
used in surgical operations.
In surgery, lasers are used to cut, coagulate and
vaporize.
Introduction
It is hard to imagine that a narrow, one-way, coherent,
moving, amplified beam of light fired by excited atoms is
powerful enough to slice through steel. The laser involves
exciting atoms and passing them through a medium
such as crystal, gas or liquid. As the cascade of photon
energy sweeps through the medium, bouncing off
mirrors, it is reflected back and forth, and gains energy
to produce a high wattage beam of light.
 Although lasers are today used by a large variety of
professions, one of the most meaningful applications of
laser technology has been through its use in medicine.
Types of lasers used
CO2 lasers, used to cut, vaporize, ablate and photo-
coagulate soft tissue.
Diode lasers
Dye lasers
Excimer lasers
Fiber lasers
Gas lasers
Free electron lasers
Semiconductor diode lasers
A 40 watt CO2 laser with
applications in ENT,
gynecology,
dermatology, oral
surgery, and podiatry
Common Application
Dental laser
Endovenous laser therapy
Laser-assisted new attachment procedure
Laser scalpel
Laser surgery
Light therapy
Low level laser therapy
Photodynamic therapy
Photomedicine
Soft-tissue laser surgery
Applications
Angioplasty
Cancer diagnosis
Cancer treatment
Cosmetic dermatology such as scar revision, skin
resurfacing, laser hair removal, tattoo removal.
Dermatology, to treat melanoma
Frenectomy
Lithotripsy
Mammography
Applications
Medical imaging
Microscopy
Ophthalmology, LASIK and laser photocoagulation
Optical coherence tomography
Prostatectomy
Plastic surgery, in laser liposuction
Surgery,to ablate and cauterize tissue
• Various types of lasers and pulse energies are used
based on the absorption properties of the target
tissue.
As a surgical tool the laser is capable of three basic
functions. When focused on a point it can cauterize
deeply as it cuts, reducing the surgical trauma caused
by a knife. It can vaporize the surface of a tissue. Or,
through optical fibres, it can permit a doctor to see
inside the body.
Lasers have also become an indispensable tool in
biological applications from high-resolution
microscopy to subcellular nanosurgery.
LASIK Surgery
Overlook
LASIK, or "laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis," is the
most commonly performed laser eye surgery to treat 
myopia (near sightedness), hyperopia (far sightedness)
and astigmatism.

Like other types of refractive surgery, the LASIK

procedure reshapes the cornea to enable light entering
the eye to be properly focused onto the retina for
clearer vision.
Laser used
Two major types of higher energy lasers used in LASIK
- Excimer laser and Femtosecond laser. Excimer lasers
work by producing ultraviolet light on a specific
wavelength (usually 193 nanometers) which is
absorbed by the tissue, meaning that tissue can be
removed, or ablated, from the underlying stromal area
of the cornea without damaging surrounding tissue.
The amounts that can be removed this way are
microscopic – as small as 0.25 microns of tissue, one
micron being one-thousandth of a millimeter.
Excimer laser
Most modern types of Excimer laser use automated
Eye-tracking systems to monitor eye movements
during surgery and keep the ultraviolet beam on
target. Different types of excimer lasers use different
patterns for tracking the eye and delivering the beam.
Two of the main types are spot Spot Scanning and slit
Slit Scanning lasers.
Slit Scanning and Spot Scanning
Slit scanning lasers use small beams that link to a rotating
device with slit-shaped holes. As these holes enlarge, the
beam provides a gradually expanding ablation zone.
Spot scanning lasers use tiny beams of less than 2 mm,
which can be scanned across the cornea to identify the
ablation zone.
These are the most common type, and provide the
Smoothest treatment.
Femtosecond lasers
Femtosecond lasers, which are
ultra-fast , ultra-short pulse lasers. These are generally
used in the type of LASIK surgery called iLASIK.
 This combines wavefront technology with a procedure
called IntraLase, to produce an exceptionally precise
type of laser surgery.
IntraLase
IntraLase is used in the first stage of LASIK surgery,
which is the creation of a thin flap of tissue that is
folded back to allow treatment.
Instead of using a blade or microkeratome to create
this flap, IntraLase uses a femtosecond laser, which
produces an infrared beam of light to create the flap
from the inside of the cornea.
This is considered by most surgeons to be much safer
than using a blade, and to provide a much more
precise and accurate flap.
Surgery

LASIK surgery using

an excimer laser
How Is LASIK Surgery Performed?
First, your eye surgeon uses either a mechanical surgical
tool called a microkeratome or a femtosecond laser to
create a thin, circular "flap" in the cornea.
The surgeon then folds back the hinged flap to access
the underlying cornea (called the stroma) and removes
some corneal tissue using an excimer laser.
This highly specialized laser uses a cool ultraviolet light
beam to remove ("ablate") microscopic amounts of
tissue from the cornea to reshape it so it more accurately
focuses light on the retina for improved vision.
How Is LASIK Surgery Performed?
For nearsighted people, the goal is to flatten the cornea;
with farsighted people, a steeper cornea is desired.
Excimer lasers also can correct astigmatism by
smoothing an irregular cornea into a more normal
shape. It is a misconception that LASIK cannot treat
astigmatism.
After the laser reshapes the cornea, the flap is then laid
back in place, covering the area where the corneal tissue
was removed. Then the cornea is allowed to heal
naturally.
Steps of LASIK
THANK YOU!!