A medical optical fiber for use with an endoscope for laser based treatment of internal bodily organs, the medical optical fiber having a longitudinal medical optical fiber axis, the medical optical fiber comprising: (a) an optical fiber having a distal optical fiber tip, said optical fiber tip having an optical fiber end face transverse to the longitudinal medical optical fiber axis, said optical fiber including an innermost optical core having an optical core end face central at said optical fiber end face; (b) a jacket surrounding said optical fiber, said jacket having a distal jacket tip with a jacket end face transverse to the longitudinal medical optical fiber axis, said jacket tip having a maximum external dimension D1 transverse to the longitudinal medical optical fiber axis, said jacket end face being recessed with respect to said optical fiber end face to leave a stripped medical optical fiber section from the optical fiber end face to the jacket end face, the stripped medical optical fiber section having a length of 350 ± 150 μm measured from the optical fiber end face along the longitudinal medical optical fiber axis; and (c) a protective tip encapsulating said optical fiber end face and said jacket end face therewithin and having an external maximum dimension D2 transverse to the longitudinal medical optical fiber axis where D2>D 1, said protective tip having a leading protective tip surface forward of said optical fiber end face and a trailing protective tip surface spaced apart from said jacket end face along the longitudinal medical optical fiber axis whereby said protective tip encapsulates said stripped medical optical fiber section and overlaps said jacket tip between said jacket end face and said trailing protective tip surface, said protective tip being made of material which absorbs laser energy and one or more of fragments or melts, wherein on delivery of laser energy through the medical optical fiber, at least some of said leading protective tip surface forward of said optical fiber end face fragments or melts for enabling delivery of laser energy through said optical core end face to an internal bodily organ. (a) an optical fiber having a distal optical fiber tip, said optical fiber tip having an optical fiber end face transverse to the longitudinal medical optical fiber axis, said optical fiber including an innermost optical core having an optical core end face central at said optical fiber end face; (b) a jacket surrounding said optical fiber, said jacket having a distal jacket tip with a jacket end face transverse to the longitudinal medical optical fiber axis, said jacket tip having a maximum external dimension D1 transverse to the longitudinal medical optical fiber axis, said jacket end face being recessed with respect to said optical fiber end face to leave a stripped medical optical fiber section from the optical fiber end face to the jacket end face, the stripped medical optical fiber section having a length of 350 ± 150 μm measured from the optical fiber end face along the longitudinal medical optical fiber axis; and (c) a protective tip encapsulating said optical fiber end face and said jacket end face therewithin and having an external maximum dimension D2 transverse to the longitudinal medical optical fiber axis where D2>D 1, said protective tip having a leading protective tip surface forward of said optical fiber end face and a trailing protective tip surface spaced apart from said jacket end face along the longitudinal medical optical fiber axis whereby said protective tip encapsulates said stripped medical optical fiber section and overlaps said jacket tip between said jacket end face and said trailing protective tip surface, said protective tip being made of material which absorbs laser energy and one or more of fragments or melts, wherein on delivery of laser energy through the medical optical fiber, at least some of said leading protective tip surface forward of said optical fiber end face fragments or melts for enabling delivery of laser energy through said optical core end face to an internal bodily organ.