The procedure is used mostly to close blood vessels in the eye, in certain kinds of diabetic retinopathy; it is no longer used in age-related macular degeneration in favor of anti-VEGF drugs.

The American Academy of Ophthalmology practice guidelines recommend laser coagulation for people who have both mild to moderate nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR) and clinically significant macular edema outside the fovea; treatment with anti-VEGF drugs is better than laser coagulation for clinically significant macular edema in the fovea.

[2] The American Academy of Ophthalmology practice guidelines do not recommend laser coagulation therapy for macular degeneration, but said that it may be useful in people with new blood vessels in the choroid outside of the fovea who do not respond to treatment with anti-VEGF drugs.

[3][4] Argon, krypton, dye and diode lasers have been used with varying levels of energy to try to prevent age-related macular degeneration by eliminating drusen.

A Cochrane review published in 2015 found that while laser treatment reduces drusen, there is no difference from placebo at 2 years with respect to preventing vision loss.

[6] The laser is used to create a row of microscopic burns in the target tissue to cause scarring which will prevent the edges of the tear from detaching from the layer below.