The carbon dioxide and erbium:yttrium-aluminum-garnet (Er:YAG) lasers are effective tools for the ablation of warts, rhinophyma, actinic cheilitis and numerous other benign epidermal and dermal lesions. The development of high peak power short-pulsed or rapidly scanned resurfacing carbon dioxide lasers and variable pulsed Er:YAG lasers has significantly improved the safety and versatility of these tools. Many lesions amenable to laser vaporization and ablation can be treated by other, far less expensive treatment modalities, and it is the laser surgeon's responsibility to use an ablative laser only for whom it is demonstrably the best treatment option.