ABSTRACT
Mankind has always had a fascination with light. In this introduction we present the historical development of the use of optical methods in medical diagnosis and therapy. The elementary discoveries made over the centuries in optics are described and the culmination of these findings appears in the sophisticated optical diagnostic and therapeutic modalities available to us today. Even though the diagnostic applications may seem obvious, in many cases the theoretical formulation of the phenomenon of electromagnetic radiation and the practical application thereof took a considerable time. However, history reveals that the therapeutic applications of light were on the vanguard. In some cases an application of light in medicine may have gone unnoticed for centuries before being revisited and developed for the benefit of the masses.
