Ultrashort-pulsed lasers have been attracting worldwide interest in science and engineering. Studying the thermal deformation induced by ultrashort-pulsed lasers is important for preventing thermal damage. This article presents a finite difference method for studying thermal deformation in a thin film exposed to ultrashort-pulsed lasers. The method is obtained based on the parabolic two-step model. It accounts for the coupling effect between lattice temperature and strain rate, as well as for the hot-electron-blast effect in momentum transfer. The method allows us to avoid non-physical oscillations in the solution as demonstrated by numerical examples. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.