A photomedical system and method for treating and/or diagnosing a patient's eye that includes a first light source for producing light, a scanning device for deflecting the light to produce a pattern of the light on the eye, a viewing element positioned to view the eye by a user or physician, and an alignment element aligned to the viewing element and the scanning device for optically indicating through the viewing element a location on the eye on which the pattern of the light will be located, but without projecting any alignment light onto the eye.