Laser light can be used to cut and cauterize tissue. At the present time CO2 lasers at 10.6 km, argon ion lasers in the blue-green part of the spectrum, and Nd:YAG lasers at 1.06 μm have operational characteristics which make their use in surgery potentially valuable. In this paper, the optics necessary to safely deliver the light from these lasers to surgical targets are described along with some suggested areas for improvements.