Laser Labs Inc., out of Tampa, Fla., is a national laser service company that buys, sells, and services medical lasers for ophthalmology, surgery, and cosmetic specialties. The company refurbishes laser tubes, YAG heads, laser arms, fibers and stock parts. They also do some international sales.

"We mostly buy our systems either from wholesalers or from hospitals directly and we usually end up selling to either people that repair or resell lasers or to the end user like doctors and surgical centers," said David Spirko, president and CEO.

Parts refurbishing is critical to supporting older systems. The company has a well stocked inventory of systems and parts such as laser tubes, arms, power supplies, circuit boards, etc. Some refurbishing is done in house, some farmed out.

"Some customers have older equipment they want to keep running and we have parts for them that the manufacturers are no longer supplying," Spirko said. "One of the trends in this market is that the manufacturers are merging and combining. In order to promote sales of their new stuff, they're basically obsoleting the old stuff and no longer servicing it. This is forcing their clients to go elsewhere even though a machine is only six or seven years old. So then they come to us looking for parts because we offer them an alternative versus buying a new piece of equipment."

Medical lasers, long used in ophthalmology, are now used to perform many other surgical procedures. The biggest growth area is in cosmetic surgery for dermatology, hair removal, skin resurfacing, tattoo removal, treating varicose veins, etc. "That's been the biggest push in the market so we're moving toward there too," Spirko said of the expanding use of the equipment.

Laser Labs Inc. has been growing steadily since it was established in 1994. They even have a contract with an OEM in an unexpected but blossoming area of opportunity. One of their clients is a foreign OEM that taps Laser Labs Inc. to create a U.S. market presence. "We have smaller companies that ask us to do service for them in our area--Florida, Georgia, and Alabama--because they don't have a service department and they are looking for support."

DOTmed also plays in important role. "DOTmed is very helpful to me. It gives me exposure online. They get a lot of hits that I probably would not get and people are constantly searching their database," Spirko said. "It's a good forum for me. It's easy for me to list stuff on there; it's easy for me to take it off. It's a lot easier than going through my own web site."

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