Lasers Take the Pain Out of Surgery

When you encounter a doctor in a hospital these days, you can no longer be certain that he's a medical practitioner. He or she could very well be a Ph.D. in biology or, increasingly likely, in laser physics. New photobiological capabilities are blurring the divisions between disciplines. They have already blurred the once clear distinction between surgery and medicine. And as they expand their contributions to diagnosis and to nonsurgical treatment, they give rise to a growing demand for specialists in lasers and in fiber optics that deliver light and retrieve information from inside the body.

by Howard Rausch