Whenever Alyse Leavitt visits her doctor, the guy in white always asks a question Leavitt never likes to answer.

Does she still smoke?

Leavitt, 25, has been smoking since she was 16 and always has to answer that yes, she does.

That is, until now. Thanks to a melding of ancient Eastern medicine and modern technology, Leavitt hasn't touched a cigarette since March 11.

That was the day Leavitt sat in a comfortable recliner and tried to relax as the reddish glare of a laser beam was trained along the skin on her ears, nose, face, arms, fingers and hands.

When it was over, Leavitt was astonished to find that she no longer craved nicotine.

"Believe me, I didn't believe it at all," she says, "and I've talked to a lot of other people who don't believe it."

Laser therapy -- a modern twist on the age-old practice of acupuncture -- is a controversial treatment for kicking tobacco, mostly because little, if any, hard scientific evidence exists to back it up.

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not approved the use of lasers for treating smoking.

The problem is that laser-based smoking cessation hasn't been subjected to solid, randomized, controlled, peer-reviewed studies, explains David Drobes, a University of South Florida associate professor and associate director of the Tobacco Research and Intervention Program at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla.

"I won't say it couldn't work," Drobes says. "I would just say that those who are promoting laser as a quit smoking cessation treatment have put the cart before the horse."

To Leavitt and others who've used it and no longer feel the need to light up, anecdotal evidence is good enough.

In laser therapy, the pinpoint of a low-level, cold laser -- rather than acupuncture needles -- is focused on points of the body that, acupuncture theory goes, are associated with the urge to smoke.

Bill Blatt, manager of tobacco programs for the American Lung Association, began noticing ads for laser smoking therapy centers in the Washington, D.C., area about six months ago. Now, he notes, the centers are "opening all over the country."

That's true in Las Vegas, where nearly a half-dozen such centers currently operate. Among them is Anne Penman Laser Therapy, 4001 S. Decatur Blvd., which opened about a year ago.

Co-owner Amy Barilla says the laser, aimed on acupressure points along the face, ears, arms, fingers and wrists, triggers a release of endorphins similar to that caused by ingesting nicotine.

Barilla says most clients find the craving for nicotine disappearing after one treatment. However, she notes, clients also receive a follow-up treatment a few days later, and may have another treatment weeks or months later if needed.

"The laser will not break the habit," she says. "So we work with (clients) and teach them on how to do that."

That can mean behavior and lifestyle changes, and involves the client remaining motivated, Barilla says. "We tell everyone that we call it a partnership between you and us."

Each session takes about an hour and the three-treatment regimen costs $299. The treatment is not currently covered by insurance, Barilla says.

Leavitt says she tried other smoking cessation methods, including stopping cold turkey, nicotine patches and nicotine gum -- "That was so disgusting I couldn't do it," she adds -- and none of them worked.

Finally, she asked her doctor about laser treatment.

"He told me he has 10 patients so far who have done it and eight of them have not picked up a cigarette since," Leavitt says.

Barilla says her Anne Penman location has an 85 percent success rate, compared to 65 percent throughout the chain, based on one-month follow-ups. Longer-term results, according to Barilla, are being tracked under a research protocol that one day might result in the company seeking FDA approval for the therapy.

"We've had a lot of skeptics come through the door, believe me, but (who) walk out believers," Barilla says. "They will come back and say, 'I doubted this from the get-go, and can't believe that now I'm actually smoke free.' "

Dr. Murray Rosenberg, a Las Vegas family practice physician, has been offering laser smoking cessation therapy in his practice for about a year.

While he's not trained in acupuncture, Rosenberg says he is "very open to it," and thought that a laser-based treatment would appeal to patients who'd find needle-based acupuncture -- laser therapy's more ancient, less comfortable cousin -- daunting.

Rosenberg says the procedure has a success rate at his practice of 70 percent to 75 percent, based on one-week follow-ups.

Rosenberg, like Barilla, says physicians have referred patients to him.

"I think a lot of doctors are somewhat skeptical," he says, "but the bottom line is any method that can help (patients) stop smoking is a benefit to them."

Laser therapy isn't one of the alternatives offered to smokers who call the Nevada Tobacco Users' Helpline, a free, statewide program affiliated with the University of Nevada School of Medicine.

Marta Wilson, the program's clinical director, says the helpline offers only evidence-based, FDA-approved methods "that are proven to be effective for nicotine dependence treatment."

Wilson says callers to the helpline (888-866-6642 or 877-0684) receive a personalized program that typically includes more than one FDA-approved treatment.

Cindy Roragen, executive director of the Nevada Tobacco Prevention Coalition, takes a more accepting stance toward laser therapy.

Roragen says research shows that people who use more than two smoking cessation strategies more than double their chances of success. If one of those methods is "something alternative such as the laser treatment or hypnotherapy or acupuncture or whatever, that's wonderful," she says.

"We encourage people to check out everything legal and safe," Roragen adds.

The American Lung Association's Blatt says the organization hasn't taken a formal stance on laser treatment. But, he notes, "we're pretty strict on meeting published scientific evidence for whatever we recommend, and they don't have it."

Nonetheless, it's working well for Leavitt, who was happy to have something different to tell her doctor. "I'm sitting there and waiting and waiting, and finally he just said: 'What are you laughing about? What are you so happy about?'

"I'm, like, 'Ask me.' He sat there for a second and said, 'Did you quit smoking?' I said, 'Yes,' and he goes, 'All right now. Tell me about it.' "

Written by: John Pryzybys

Posted by Irwan on November 1, 2009