The Nation - News from March 12, 1987

People embarrassed by age spots, sun spots or freckles may soon be able to walk into a dermatologist’s office and have them zapped off by a low-dose carbon dioxide laser, researchers reported at a meeting of U.S. and Canadian pathologists in Chicago. Although lasers have been used with limited success in removing more serious skin defects, as a purely cosmetic procedure they are highly effective, virtually painless and leave no discernible scar, said Dr. Bruce Smoller, a pathologist with Beth Israel Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston.