BOSTON -- Lasers have been used to get rid of unsightly hair, but a new treatment promises to do the reverse, making hair grow.

HAIR TREATMENTS Contact Dr. Robert Leonard: Newton, Mass.: (617) 965-7400 Cranston, R.I.: (800) 543-0660 Leonard Hair Transplant Associates

NewsCenter 5's Liz Brunner reported that low-level light therapy works by increasing blood flow to the scalp and hair follicles, encouraging hair growth.

"This is something that is brand new, and it's exciting, and I think people benefit from it considerably," said Dr. Robert Leonard, of Leonard Hair Transplant.

There are two causes of baldness, Leonard said. One is a deficiency in a biochemical called dihydrotestosterone that causes male pattern baldness and can sometimes be treated with medications. The other is a decrease in blood flow to the scalp, which can lead to receding hairlines and overall thinning.

"If we can stimulate blood flow to those areas, we can get further hair loss to stop, and we can even get the regrowth of hair occurring," Leonard said. "That's what the low-level laser does."

Studies done abroad show the laser halts hair loss in 85 percent of those who try it and regrows hair about half the time.

Leonard said that it's particularly helpful for women, for whom there are few options.

"Female pattern hair loss affects one in 20 women in the United States," Leonard said. "If they have over-processed hair, if they're dying it too much, the low-level laser therapy also augments or builds up the cuticle, which is on the hair shaft we see. So the hair becomes much more manageable, fewer split ends, softer."

The treatment is time consuming. Patients need two, 30-minute sessions a week, and then it tapers down. More than 20 sessions are needed over a year's time, and clients must also use special shampoos and lotions to further stimulate hair growth. All this costs $3,500 for the full year of treatment.

The regiment doesn't bother Craig. The 29-year-old construction worker is using the laser in combination with hair transplantation and said after just a few sessions, it's working.

"I would say that even after a couple of sessions, I don't think I'm seeing as much hair at the bottom of the shower," he said.

The cost of the treatments is not covered by insurance. Other hair loss experts said they had heard of the new technology, but Dr. Michael Holick, at the Boston University School of Medicine, said if this laser does restore blood flow to the scalp, it could stimulate hair follicles.

The laser technology approved by the Food and Drug Administration for safety, with no noted side effects.