If you have searched for "cold laser therapy" and landed in a thicket of words like photobiomodulation, mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase, and BDNF upregulation, this article is for you. We have written a detailed mechanism piece for the science-curious. The article you are reading now is the plain version.
The One-Sentence Answer
Cold laser therapy uses low-power laser light to deliver energy into your cells without producing heat, which helps the cells repair themselves and produce more of the chemicals your brain uses to regulate cravings, mood, and pain.
That sentence covers about 80 percent of what most people need to know before their first session.
What "Cold" Means
You have probably heard of lasers used to cut tissue, remove tattoos, or burn off lesions. Those are high-power lasers and they produce heat. The clue in the name is the temperature.
Cold laser therapy uses lasers at about one one-hundredth of the power. The light is the same kind of light, but at this intensity it produces no heat you would notice on your skin. The technical name in the research literature is low-level laser therapy, or LLLT. Another name is photobiomodulation, abbreviated PBM, which simply means "changing biology with light."
You see the same idea in the sun affecting your mood, plants converting sunlight into sugar, or vitamin D production in your skin. Light interacts with biology. Cold laser therapy is a deliberate version of that.
What a Session Actually Looks Like
You sit or recline. You stay fully clothed. A handheld device about the size of a flashlight is held at specific points on your ears, hands, and face for a few minutes each. The points were chosen because they map to nerve pathways the body uses to regulate addiction, anxiety, and pain.
You feel almost nothing. A small percentage of people report a faint warmth or tingling at the point of contact. Most people feel nothing at all. Many find the session relaxing enough to fall asleep partway through.
A typical session runs 20 to 40 minutes. There is no recovery period. You can drive afterward and return to work the same day. Our what to expect article walks through the full visit step by step.
How It Works, In One Page
Inside every cell in your body, there are small structures called mitochondria. Their job is to produce ATP, which is the energy your cells use to do everything else, including run your brain. When you have been smoking, drinking, or using other substances for years, your mitochondria are working overtime in a stressed environment, and ATP production drops.
Cold laser light at specific wavelengths is absorbed by a molecule inside mitochondria called cytochrome c oxidase. When this molecule absorbs the light, mitochondrial energy production goes up. More ATP becomes available. The cells, including the neurons in your brain, can repair themselves and produce neurotransmitters faster.
The treatment also triggers release of endorphins, the body's own painkillers, by stimulating specific nerve pathways at the treatment points. This is the part that makes cravings feel less commanding in the first hours after a session.
That is the entire mechanism in one paragraph. The longer photobiomodulation article goes into the cellular biochemistry if you want it.
What It Can Help With
The strongest evidence and the most common use is smoking and nicotine cessation. Cold laser therapy at auricular points has been studied for smoking cessation for decades, with positive but modest effect sizes in the controlled trials that exist.
It is also used for:
- Alcohol, cannabis, cocaine, and opioid recovery support (mostly during the post-acute window)
- Anxiety and stress, where the mechanism overlaps with vagus nerve stimulation
- Weight loss support, by reducing food cravings driven by the same dopamine pathway
- Chronic pain, where photobiomodulation has a broader and stronger evidence base than the addiction applications
It does not cure addiction. It does not work for everyone. The honest framing, which we go into in our does laser therapy work article, is that the evidence is positive but smaller and lower quality than the evidence for nicotine replacement or varenicline.
What It Is Not
It is not acupuncture. Both treatments use similar points on the ears, but acupuncture uses needles and cold laser uses light. The mechanism is different. We have written a comparison piece on the overlap and the differences.
It is not a sales pitch dressed up as science. The mechanism is real, the evidence is real, and the limits are real.
It is not a one-and-done treatment. Most protocols include a first session and a series of follow-ups, because the neurochemical changes happen over weeks rather than in a single visit.
It is not a substitute for medical care. If you are in acute alcohol or benzodiazepine withdrawal, see a doctor first. If you have a substance-related medical condition, see your primary care physician. Cold laser therapy supports recovery alongside medical care, not instead of it.
Is It Safe?
Cold laser therapy at the power levels used for addiction work has an excellent safety profile. There are no medications. There is no nicotine. The light does not break the skin. The most commonly reported side effects in the published trials are temporary lightheadedness during the session and brief fatigue afterward.
Eye protection is used during the session because looking directly into a laser at any power is a bad idea. Beyond that, the treatment is non-invasive and most people experience no adverse effects.
How Many Sessions
This depends on what you are treating and how long you have been using. Our pricing reflects this. The Bronze protocol is a single top-up session for alumni. Gold covers four sessions across a couple of months. Platinum runs six to eight sessions across up to a year for harder cases and includes the Success Partnership guarantee.
The reason we structure it this way: receptor recovery takes weeks, not days. A single session can shift cravings for hours or days. A full protocol shifts them across the window your brain actually needs to rebuild.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does cold laser therapy hurt?
No. The light is low power and produces no heat you would notice on your skin. Most people feel nothing or a faint warmth at the treatment points.
How is cold laser therapy different from regular laser surgery?
Regular surgical lasers use high power to cut or burn tissue. Cold laser therapy uses about one one-hundredth of that power and produces no heat. The mechanism is different: surgical lasers damage tissue deliberately, cold laser stimulates cellular energy production.
Is cold laser therapy approved by Health Canada?
Cold laser devices used in therapeutic clinics in Canada are regulated as medical devices and require Health Canada licensing for the specific therapeutic claims they make. Ask any clinic you are considering for the device's regulatory class and indication.
How long does a session take?
Most sessions take 20 to 40 minutes. The first appointment runs longer because it includes the intake conversation. Plan for about an hour for your first visit.
How soon will I feel a difference?
Many people notice reduced cravings within hours of their first session. For others, the change is gradual over the following days. Both patterns are normal, which is why the protocol includes follow-up sessions across weeks rather than relying on a single visit.
Is cold laser therapy covered by insurance?
In Canada, most extended health plans do not cover cold laser therapy specifically. Some plans cover it under a Smoking Cessation benefit or a Health Spending Account. Check with your provider, and keep your receipt.
References
- Hamblin MR, Demidova TN. Mechanisms of low-level light therapy. Proceedings of SPIE. 2006.
- Chung H, Dai T, Sharma SK, et al. The nuts and bolts of low-level laser (light) therapy. Annals of Biomedical Engineering. 2012.
- White AR, Rampes H, Liu JP, et al. Acupuncture and related interventions for smoking cessation. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2014.
- de Freitas LF, Hamblin MR. Proposed mechanisms of photobiomodulation or low-level light therapy. IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics. 2016.