Skin treatment method and apparatus
AssigneeKoninklijke Philips N.V.
InventorsJonathan Alambra Palero, Rieko Verhagen, Martin Jurna, Margaret Ruth Horton
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method of treating a skin tissue area, in particular non-invasively treating the skin tissue area (1), is provided. The skin tissue area has a dermis layer area (3), an epidermis layer area (5) providing a skin surface (7) and covering the dermis layer area. The method comprises: a first step of causing one or more dermal lesions (11) localized in the dermis layer area while avoiding epidermal damage, and a second step of causing, separately from causing said plurality of dermal lesions, a plurality of epidermal lesions (15) localized in the epidermis layer area. An apparatus is also provided.
Claims19
A method of non-invasively treating a skin tissue area, the skin tissue area including a dermis layer area in a dermis layer and an epidermis layer area in a epidermis layer, the epidermis layer area comprising a skin surface and covering the dermis layer area, the method comprising:
- simultaneously producing a plurality of dermal lesions, localized in the dermis layer area, by focusing a laser beam through a plurality of first lenses into dermal focal spots at a first depth, respectively, the dermal lesions causing rejuvenation of the dermis layer area;
- and
- simultaneously producing a plurality of epidermal lesions, separate from the dermal lesions and localized in the epidermis layer area, by focusing the laser beam through a plurality of second lenses into epidermal focal spots at a second depth less than the first depth, each epidermal lesion covering an area smaller than an area covered by each dermal lesion, such that the production of the epidermal lesion provides epidermal stimulation, which accelerates the rejuvenation of the dermis layer area caused by the dermal lesions,
- wherein the first plurality of lenses are separate lenses from the second plurality of lenses and are laterally offset from each other, causing the epidermal lesions to be laterally offset from the dermal lesions, and wherein a light emitting surface of the first plurality of lenses and the second plurality of lenses are positioned along the same plane.
A method of non-invasively treating a skin tissue area, the skin tissue area including a dermis layer area in a dermis layer and an epidermis layer area in a epidermis layer, the epidermis layer area comprising a skin surface and covering the dermis layer area, the method comprising:
- producing a plurality of dermal lesions, localized in the dermis layer area, by focusing a laser beam through a plurality of first lenses into dermal focal spots at a first depth, respectively, the dermal lesions causing rejuvenation of the dermis layer area;
- and
- simultaneously producing a plurality of epidermal lesions, separate from the dermal lesions and localized in the epidermis layer area, by focusing the laser beam through a plurality of second lenses into epidermal focal spots at a second depth less than the first depth, each epidermal lesion covering an area smaller than an area covered by each dermal lesion, such that the production of the epidermal lesion provides epidermal stimulation, which accelerates the rejuvenation of the dermis layer area caused by the dermal lesions,
- wherein the first and second lenses are laterally offset from each other, causing the epidermal lesions to be laterally offset from the dermal lesions, and
- wherein the dermal lesions collectively provide a first coverage of the skin tissue area and the epidermal lesions collectively provide a second coverage of the skin tissue area, wherein the second coverage of the skin tissue area is about 12% of the first coverage of the skin tissue area.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.