by Sue » 28 Oct 2012, 07:56
Well, I'd suggest just doing a basic search for laser refractive surgery. Wikipedia has several excellent articles that explain PRK and LASIK, which are the two most common laser surgeries. Keep in mind there are other types of lasers used for surgeries in the eye for health problems -- people with diabetic retinopathy, retinal detachments, and glaucoma also can have laser procedures done. (Look up photocoagulation and laser trabeculectomy/trabeculoplasty for more info.)
In any case, a laser is just a highly-collimated (parallel) beam of regular ol' light energy at a specific wavelength. LASIK uses an excimer laser; the other procedures use different lasers (YAG, for example) that operate at different wavelengths. In any case, it's the strength of the laser that is responsible for the tissue being blasted away.
You've got more research to do, but hopefully this is a helpful starting point.