Low level laser therapy (also known as cold laser therapy or LLLT) is a relatively new development in the field of laser medical technology. Since the first working laser was built and tested in 1960, laser equipment has been used in various surgical fields, mainly taking advantage of the laser's ability to make clean, ultra precise incisions as well as its ability to selectively remove or evaporate tissue cells. When the first low level laser therapy experiments were conducted by the Hungarian researcher Endre Mester in 1967, they were revolutionary primarily because they did NOT rely on these destructive and thermal attributes of laser light. Rather, cold laser therapy was based on the idea that exposure to low level laser light could inhibit or simulate cellular function. In other words, there was no cutting or burning involved. Instead, laser light was used to painlessly stimulate some desired cellular function. Throughout the last few decades, private companies and researchers have invested a considerable amount of time and money trying to perfect various uses of low level laser light in the medical and cosmetic fields. Recently, many of these experiments have come to fruition, resulting in FDA approval for the use of cold laser devices to treat certain ailments, such as muscle pain. However, the FDA still considers low level laser therapy to be an experimental field, and there are many treatments being offered right now that do not have FDA approval and have not been sufficiently verified to work. One of the things that have made cold laser therapy so widespread, despite the fact that some of the LLLT treatments being offered by some clinics are less than reliable, is the fact that cold laser equipment has become very easily available. There is also the intrinsic appeal of laser treatments, i.e. they are fast, painless and can (thus far) boast to having no negative side-effects. However not all of the cold laser treatments being advertised online today have proven to be effective, so it's important to know which ones have received approval by the FDA and the larger scientific community. Currently, low level laser therapy has been proven to be effective in relieving various kinds of muscle pain and tendon pain. It has also been proven successful in accelerating tissue repair, which can be applied to bone, muscle, skin, ligament, and nerve damage. LLLT has also been shown to help reduce inflammation and aid in the treatment of lymphedema and rheumatoid arthritis. Studies are still ongoing concerning other uses of cold laser therapy, including hair growth and quitting smoking.