Thulium-doped lasers are an ideal choice for biological tissue ablation and lithotripsy applications due to the advantage of efficient absorption by water molecules. They have great application prospects in the field of biomedicine. This paper briefly describes the principle of thulium-doped lasers and biological action, introduces the latest research results for thulium-doped lasers at home and abroad and their application in tissue ablation and lithotripsy surgery, and summarizes different laser parameters, including working mode and power. The effects of the irradiation time, spot area, and pulse frequency, among others, on tissue ablation and lithotripsy surgery reveal that the thulium-doped fiber lasers are an important development direction for medical lasers in the future. In addition, suggestions are made for the development of domestic thulium-doped lasers in the biomedical field.