Soft-tissue laser surgery is used in a variety of applications in humans (general surgery, neurosurgery, ENT, dentistry, orthodontics,[2] and oral and maxillofacial surgery) as well as veterinary[3] surgical fields. The primary uses of lasers in soft tissue surgery are to cut, ablate, vaporize, and coagulate. There are several different laser wavelengths used in soft tissue surgery. Different laser wavelengths and device settings (such as pulse duration and power) produce different effects on the tissue. Some commonly used lasers types in soft tissue surgery include erbium, diode, and CO2. Erbium lasers are excellent cutters, but provide minimal hemostasis. Diode lasers (hot tip) provide excellent hemostasis, but are slow cutters. CO2 lasers are both efficient at cutting and coagulating.[4] Laser surgery is commonly used on the eye. Techniques used include LASIK, which is used to correct near and far-sightedness in vision, and photorefractive keratectomy, a procedure which permanently reshapes the cornea using an excimer laser to remove a small amount of the human tissue.[5][6][7]
^"General Surgery". American Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery. May 20, 2016. Retrieved 2024-08-21.
^Borzabadi-Farahani A (2017). "The Adjunctive Soft-Tissue Diode Laser in Orthodontics". Compend Contin Educ Dent. 37 (eBook 5): e18–e31. PMID28509563.
^Strauss, Robert (2017-03-08). "24". In Fonseca, Raymond J. (ed.). Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery - E-Book: 3-Volume Set. Elsevier Health Sciences. pp. 327–354. ISBN9780323444422.
^Cuscheri; et al. "Essential Surgical Practice". Basic surgical training (4 ed.). pp. 62–65.
^Schwesinger, WH; Hunter, JG (1992). Laser in General Surgery. Surgical Clinics of North America.
^Morris, Peter J; Wood, William C. Oxford Textbook of Surgery. Vol. 2.
