Single Laser Treatment to Quit Smoking?

By Ronnie Koenig From AOL Health

Innovative Laser Therapy, a New Haven, Conn.-based company is claiming on their website that you can quit smoking from just one hour of low-level laser treatment targeted at acupuncture points on the body. During the treatment, lasers are pointed at areas on the face, hands and wrist. This is supposed to relieve withdrawal symptoms and prevent cravings.

"When you smoke a cigarette, you artificially tell your brain to release endorphins," Frank Pinto, the owner of Innovative Laser Therapy said in a Reuters Health article. "The laser basically stimulates the nerve endings to tell the brain to release a flood of endorphins," he said.

The laser allegedly gets the smoker over the three- to five-day hump of withdrawal symptoms. The company also claims that the treatment targets points that will suppress appetite so patients can avoid the weight gain associated with quitting smoking.

Innovative Laser Therapy cites a 2008 study published in the Journal of Chinese Medicine where U.K. researchers found that smokers that had four laser treatments over two weeks were more likely to quit than those who had just three treatments.

Those in the three treatment group had better success rates than a control group that was given fake laser treatments.


But many in the scientific community feel that this is not sufficient data to support laser treatment as a proven smoking cessation tool, and it has not yet been approved for this purpose by the FDA.

"The study on four treatments versus three treatments is not all that convincing,” says Dr. Len Horovitz, internist and pulmonary specialist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. “I have a problem with something Frank Pinto said which is that endorphins are released when you smoke. That’s not exactly true.

"What happens is that nicotine goes to the endorphin receptors. It's not a natural release of endorphins like you get from exercise. So his statement is a little unscientific," he told AOL Health.

Pinto started his company after he successfully kicked the habit after one round of laser therapy from a clinic in Florida. His company charges $350 for a one-time treatment that takes less than an hour and offers free extra treatments to patients who continue to struggle over the following six months.

"The laser treatment has been compared to acupuncture, which also targets points on the body to help the person quit.

There’s nothing that implies that the use of these lasers is all that special," said Horovitz. "I've done acupuncture on patients -- you hit the Shen Men point on the ear. I’ve seen success in people who are already motivated to quit. Personal motivation is the most important factor."

Horovitz is also concerned that the laser treatment would not address the psychological side of smoking and the ritual of lighting up.

"Statistics show that a combination of using the patch daily in one of three strengths in combination with nicotine chewing gum, and then going to a lower strength is the most successful route," he said. "But remember that smoking is not totally a physical problem. There’s the psychological component. There’s the option of going to a support group or therapy to address this."

Horovitz said that it is possible to quit smoking in just one hour. "A one-hour serious talk with yourself could work. It is possible to just stop. It's not like eating where you have to do it to live. You don’t need the pills and the gum,” he said. “I tell patients that there is a life without smoking."