The small difference in wavelength between an argon laser (514 nm) and a frequency-doubled Nd:YAG laser (532 nm), together with the advantage of the solid-state technology, makes the Nd:YAG laser likely to play a major role in retinal photocoagulation in the near future. For technical reasons all frequency-doubled Nd:YAG lasers work in a quasi-continuous mode, emitting a burst of highly repetitive short laser pulses during the exposure time desired. We investigated the side effects due to high peak irradiances of those short laser pulse trains (Crystal Focus Nd:YAG laser, Emerald; pulse duration 1-10 microseconds, repetition rate 13 KHz) in rabbits in comparison with a standard argon laser system (Zeiss, Visulas, Argon II). The energy necessary for blanching the retina was similar in both cases. As opposed to the argon laser system, subretinal bubbles were regularly visible ophthalmoscopically with the Nd:YAG system, when average powers as high as 200 mW were used. The ED50 power for bubble formation is about 2-3 times above the ED50 power for blanching. Thermal calculations show that this bubble formation effect is likely to be related to the peak power of the short pulses. The hemorrhage threshold is similar in both systems. However, light microscopically there is no difference between the two laser systems. Panretinal photocoagulation (300-500 microns, 100-200 ms) in patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy produced such bubbles about once per 1000 lesions.