In Reply.
—In Dr Belcher's letter, a few points were raised that are of historical interest, and I am grateful for these astute amendments. Indeed, Dr Meyer-Schwickerath performed "photocoagulation" and the laser was not invented until 1960. It seems that Dr Zaret has, to some extent, suffered the same fate as Carl Adolph von Basedow and Caleb Hiller Parry with respect to Graves' disease, as his contributions tend to escape most of us.With regard to the "relative contraindications to elective laser iridotomy" of anticoagulation, uveitis, and rubeosis, I was merely citing the beliefs of others, but I must agree that laser surgery provides us with a mechanism for dealing with these problems in what, in my mind, at this time is a far safer fashion than conventional open-eye surgery. Whether it is necessary to gently precoagulate the area to be penetrated has yet to be clearly determined, but in