Another new area for the use of cold lasers is the treatment of patients to help them stop smoking. Cold laser smoking cessation therapy uses pinpoint cold laser equipment to activate acupoints that reduce the hunger for cigarettes.

Cold Laser Smoking Cessation

This is one area where the patients can really speak for themselves. In other treatments, it is difficult for patients to tell that the cold laser has accelerated their healing but it is easy for patients to say that they have less desire for cigarettes after a cold laser treatment.

One international business has focused on helping patients kick the smoking habit using cold laser therapy as a modern form of acupuncture. At the Anne Penman Clinics, they have found that the success rates for cold laser assisted therapy are four to five times that of most other smoking cessation programs. This program originated in England in 1992. Although there are hundreds of organizations across the US using cold lasers to treat cigarette addition, the Anne Penman is one of the most well known.

Cold Laser Stop Smoking

The Anne Penman program combines cold laser therapy with personal guidance and a 24-hour hotline. The laser technician uses cold lasers to target acupoints on the body. The cold laser doesn't have the "ouch" of acupuncture and it causes the body to release natural chemicals (endorphins). The endorphin release has a calming and relaxing effect on the body. This helps to reduce withdrawal symptoms and nicotine craving. Some laser therapy patients report a feeling of mild sense of euphoria following a cold laser smoking cessation treatment. In addition to stimulating an endorphin release, the laser stimulates the body's natural ability to detoxify the nicotine, getting the ex-smoker through the nicotine withdrawal more quickly. The Anne Penman organization has treated close to 40,000 clients for smoking cessation and weight loss. In August of 2005, the Anne Penman organization was featured on "Good Morning America". On this show, Anne Penman declared a 64% success rate in helping people quit smoking.

 

Although there have been no formal studies conducted on the effectiveness of cold laser therapy to help people stop smoking, the use of cold lasers to treat smoking cessation is currently in clinical trials. There should be FDA cleared low level lasers coming very soon.

A Note to Doctors and Therapists

Laser Acupuncture Treatments are a drug-free, safe, painless and highly effective solution for smoking
cessation. Treating only a few patients per week will initiate a return on investment. The program is easily
incorporated into your existing health care practice or, as a free-standing smoking cessation and addiction clinic.

The tethered MedX Laser Probe and MedX 1100 console are specifically designed for this application and they allow for fast, easy set-up. The Laser Probe delivers 200 mW of infrared energy using an 808 nm GaAIAs infrared laser diode and visible red guide light. The ergonomic design ensures simplicity of use and accuracy for auricular and body acupuncture applications. The MedX Laser Probe fibre optic light guides have been developed specifically for Smoking Cessation and Addiction Programs.

 

US FDA / IRB License
In order to advertise and treat â??indications of useâ?? in the US that are not presently cleared by FDA,
Smoking Cessation and Addiction Programs must be covered by an Institutional Review Board or IRB approval. MedX has obtained an open, multi-center IRB for Smoking Cessation and other Addiction Programs from Texas Applied Biomedical Solutions. The purchase of a MedX laser allows for the inclusion into the MedX IRB.