7 Healthcast: Smoke free in a snap

Tom McGreevey of Nashua, NH, says, " I have two children, and I want to see them graduate college, get married and see my grandchildren some day."

That's why Tom McGreevey is ready to kick the habit once and for all. As a smoker for 20 years, he's tried quitting several times.

"I've tried the cold turkey thing, it lasts a day or two or three," says Tom.

But today Tom is hoping something new will help him put those cigarettes out for good.

The treatment involves a laser. It's called low-level laser therapy. "It works on the accupressure points of the body," says Michael DaFoe. He is performing the treatment at Advanced Laser Therapy in Bedford, NH. Here's how it works: "When you smoke a cigarette you stimulate what is called endorphins in your body. When we use the laser we're actually stimulating endorphins and also releasing some endorphins. The body is gonna think you're still smoking," says Dafoe.

Dafoe uses the laser on various pressure points of the body, like the ear, wrist, and leg to create passage ways that allow the nicotine to be flushed from the body.

After 30-minutes Dafoe says, "Congratulations Tom, you're officially a non-smoker."

For the next couple of days, Tom will need to drink plenty of water to flush the nicotine out of his body.

"I'm going to take this very seriously, I don't know what's going to happen," says Tom.

The laser treatment worked for Jane Hall.

"It's like I've never smoked. I've never craved a cigarette," says Jane.

She's been smoke-free for a year and half.

"It's phenomenal. It's wonderful. It's just a great feeling," says Jane.

The low level laser therapy is currently in clinical trials. The FDA has not approved it as a method to quit smoking.

"We still don't have enough sufficient data to say that this program really works in people who are trying to quit smoking," says Pragati Ghimire-Aryal from Brigham and Women's Hospital

So some say it's better to stick nicotine replacement therapy and behavioral counseling like the Quit Smoking Program at Brigham and Women's Hospital. "It’s using patches or gums or lozenges that give gradual and decreasing doses of nicotine," says Ghimire-Aryal.

But Dafoe says his method works. "Not only is it effective but once again the person has to be ready. Once that person is ready, there is not another method that I would bet would be as successful as this," says DaFoe.

The treatment costs $275.

It's been a couple of weeks since Tom had the laser treatment done, and he says that he is still smoking, but not as much as before.

Advanced laser therapy

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