ABSTRACT
Trying to predict the future developments of a relatively recent medical field is a real challenge, particularly at the conclusion of a comprehensive textbook on photomedicine. I am grateful to the editors for having thought of me for this task! but it may appear to be a poisoned gift made even more poisonous since I have been very honored to accept this task. Having participated in the photodynamic therapy (PDT) adventure as a student since its early stages, I will share my vision of the future. Photomedicine, although as old as the sun in being a freely available source of energy, has found its modern applications only very recently. Some of these applications will disappear or have already disappeared, while some others, still in the laboratory stage, will progressively emerge. There are two driving forces guiding this emergence: chemistry and technologies (particularly nanotechnology) on one hand, which are developing so quickly and make apparently impossible things easily feasible, and economic realism on the other hand, which will at the same time promote new fields but also limit their expansion.
