Smokers turn to lasers to quit

Laser therapy seen as alternative to pills
In the past 40 years, Jerry Sandvig has smoked nearly 300,000 cigarettes. In the past week, she has smoked zero, and she doesn't miss them at all.

"I have no craving for cigarettes," she said. "It's like a miracle for me."

Before, Sandvig has felt cravings when trying to quit.

She felt them when using the nicotine patch. She felt them with the nicotine gum. She was nauseous and sick all day, as about 30 percent are, when she tried Pfizer's drug Chantix.

She couldn't quit for a day on those treatments, unlike the one she received last week.

The 68-year-old couldn't even quit last year after her brother, 64, died of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Doctors also have diagnosed her with the disease, and she's struggled breathing. About 80 to 90 percent of deaths from the disease are caused by smoking, according to the American Lung Association.

In the end, Sandvig turned to lasers after her two children, Sean and Jackie, begged her to get the treatment from Derek Vest, CEO of Laser Solutions. They even paid for the procedure.

Vest was 34 when he sold a respiratory care business which had placed him in direct contact with the health effects of smoking.

"I took care of thousands of patients ... once you are on oxygen, you are on it for the rest of your life," Vest said of his former clients. "Stopping people from smoking is great."

Dealing with "insane boredom" after selling his business, Vest began searching for a new venture. Three years later, he learned of the laser therapy that helped four of his sisters' friends kick the habit.

"I said, 'you know, if it's real this would be the greatest business in the world,'" said Vest, whose sister, a nonsmoker, acted as a guinea pig to determine whether the therapy was real.

The therapy, which has been around for three decades in Canada and Europe, involves shooting painless Food and Drug Administration-approved lasers at 23 points on the body. Researchers believe this causes the brain to release chemicals in a way similar to when someone smokes a cigarette.

"She came out and she called me and she sounded just trashed," Vest said of his sister after the treatment. "I said, 'Oh my God, it works.' I was like, 'Wow, a real physiological response.'"

Today, the year-old company has six offices, including locations in Fort Myers and Naples.

The therapy is a "medical procedure in the state of Florida," according to Vest.

That means it is overseen by a medical doctor who has analyzed and approved every part of the therapy, from when patients enter the door to when they leave cigarette-free.

Several hundred physicians recommend patients to the company, said Vest, and two hospitals with smoke-free campuses offer the service to their employees.

"Well, from no locations a year ago to six, that's no record, but, hey, it's good," Vest said. "I'd say we're off to a very good start."

The word, "success" often isn't heard among smoking cessation professionals, but Vest believes laser therapy is the exception.

He shared a survey conducted by the Valor Laser Institute of 248 laser therapy patients randomly selected from a group of 2,480. After 90 days of treatment, 61 percent reported they still weren't smoking.

Chantix, a drug developed by Pfizer Inc., works by blocking nicotine receptors in the brain. It must be taken every day, costs hundreds of dollars, causes nausea in 30 percent of users and has another unusual side effect: abnormal dreams.

"The most vivid, horrific nightmares you could ever imagine," Vest said.

Pfizer conducted a clinical study of its drug and a competing drug known as Zyban, also known as Welbutrin.

After 12 weeks, 40 percent of users still had quit with Chantix and 30 percent with Zyban. Clinical studies of the nicotine patch have found 24th-week success rates of between 8 and 27 percent.

Dr. Mitchell Petusevsky of Medical Surgical Specialists in Naples, a board certified pulmonary and critical care specialist, doesn't recommend laser therapy to his patients that smoke because there are no published, clinical studies reporting more success with the treatment than the sugar pill.

"There is no indication that that form of therapy is any more beneficial than placebo," Petusevsky said. "As a specialist who deals with patients who smoke all the time, for me, anything that works, anything that gets a patient off cigarettes is great. So, if that particular technique works for a particular patient, that's fine."

Sandvig and the many others who smoke experience withdrawal symptoms when they quit that are muted for up to four weeks with the therapy, Vest said.

Sandvig said that, without the laser therapy, she would get "mean" and "nervous" when quitting.

The cost for the therapy, including up to three one-hour treatments, is $295. Patients usually only require one of the three treatments provided in the basic package.

A one-year follow up plan, which includes behavior consultations and additional treatments as needed is $99. Vest said none of his patients have requested a second round of treatment.

Despite relegating the therapy to the realms of alternative medicine where other treatments such as accupuncture, chiropractic care and herbal supplements reside, Petusevsky was encouraging to those who, irregardless of the medical literature, choose the therapy.

"Anything that we can do to try and get patients off this terrible habit, which is the single most important preventative cause of death and disability around the world today, I think is great" said Petusevsky, adding that it is estimated a billion people will die from smoking-related illness this century.