Past, Present, and Future Usage of Lasers in Plastic Surgery, Dermatology, and Podiatry

Lasers have assumed a very important role in the treatment of cutaneous or superficial lesions in plastic surgery, dermatology, and podiatry. They have provided beneficial improvement for multiple disorders for which no reliable and effective treatment has been previously available. In addition, the laser treatment of several very ordinary, mundane disorders has resulted in a marked diminution in posttreatment edema and pain, thus improving postoperative comfort and establishing the laser as the preferred modality for such disorders. Advances in laser treatment have been particularly dramatic in plastic surgery, dermatology, and podiatry because of the readily accessible superficial location of most of the disorders, which can be treated often on an out-patient basis under local anesthesia without the necessity for special instrumentation as in other laser specialties.