There are many types of medical lasers available in the market for surgeries and treatment. However, not everything is suitable for a particular kind of medical procedure, due to the difference in the power and nature of the waves. Therefore, choosing the appropriate laser for treatment is necessary. Hence, the physician must consider the purpose of the operation or treatment, and the nature of tissue that is going to be exposed to the laser (soft or hard) before deciding the type of laser to be used.
Semiconductor Laser’
When current is passed through a semiconductor, the electrons attain an excited state by absorbing energy and emit coherent radiation on the transition from the excited state to the ground state. This emitted beam of the laser is used for various purposes in the field of medicine.
Medical diagnosis, aesthetic treatments, and surgeries are the major procedures in which it is employed. Low-power semiconductor-laser is used in eye surgeries and treatment of soft tissues. Whereas, dentists use a high-power laser.
In recent years, semiconductor-lasers are used widely because they are reliable, cost-efficient and the power of the laser can be easily controlled. Further, the medical laser service requirement for these lasers are negligible.
Nd: YAG Laser
It is a solid-state laser. The Nd: YAG crystal is used as the active medium. A flash tube supplies energy to the crystal that generates a laser beam. It emits both discrete and continuous waves in the near-infrared region.
In the medical field, it is used for vision correction. After cataract surgery, scar tissues would be left behind the lens implant, which may cause blurred vision; it is corrected by using Nd: YAG Laser. Besides, they are used to remove skin cancer.
It consumes very low power and the laser can be produced with different wavelengths.
CO2 Laser
In this laser, the current is the energy source, gas mixture (carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and helium in the major proportion) is the active medium and gold or silver acts as the reflector. The laser can be produced only as a continuous wave and in the infrared spectrum.
The affinity of CO2 lasers for water-based tissues makes it favorable for oral surgeries. It is used in the vaporization procedure to remove lesions from the oral region.
Both diode and CO2 lasers disinfect the surgical wound and ensure almost a bloodless surgery. It also causes minimal swelling and scarring, therefore no mechanical trauma to the tissue.