The snore cure takes three visits to the doctor of about 10 minutes each. Once lasers got small enough to fit down endoscopes, many old procedures got safer. For example, patients with herniated disks in their back can now receive a percutaneous laser disk decompression. Patients receive local anesthesia, can leave the hospital walking and are back to work within a week. Many old and painful gynecological procedures have also been made safer and faster.
Lasers can vaporize fibroid tumors, remove ectopic pregnancies and open blocked fallopian tubes.
Heavy menstruation used to be cured with a hysterectomy. Now, a laser can be fed through the cervix and into the uterus to eliminate the lining but leave the uterus intact. Lasers have also made new procedures possible. Recently, a Stanford cardiologist became the first in the United States to perform a percutaneous revascularization, or PMR, on a human subject. That's a mouthful, but the procedure essentially drills tiny holes in damaged heart muscle tissue to get blood to areas starved for oxygen.