Method and apparatus for cryogenic treatment of skin tissue
AssigneeThe General Hospital Corporation
InventorsRichard Rox Anderson, Dieter Manstein, Henry Hin Lee Chan, Joseph Ting
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Cosmetic method and apparatus are provided that can provide cooling and/or freezing of skin tissue proximal to the skin surface to generate an appearance of lightening or reduced pigmentation in the skin. The skin can be cooled to a temperature of less than about −5 degrees Celsius for a duration of about one minute or less, using a cooled surface that is at least 3 cm in width. A cooling arrangement can be provided to provide controlled heat removal from the skin tissue being treated. A sensor can optionally be provided to detect freezing of tissue proximal to the cooled surface.
Claims29
A method for freezing at least one portion of a skin tissue, comprising:
- identifying the skin tissue to be treated with a hypopigmentation;
- and
- contacting a portion of a skin surface of the skin tissue with a non-penetrating continuous cooling contact surface of a cooling plate free of any cooling protrusions on the surface so as to freeze the at least one portion of the skin tissue to lighten a pigmentation appearance of the skin tissue, wherein a temperature of the non-penetrating continuous cooling contact surface of the cooing plate is provided at between −5 and −20 degrees Celsius to provide controlled heat removal from the skin tissue so as to locally control a freezing of a continuous region of an epidermal layer of the skin tissue in less than two minutes during a continuous contact between the skin surface and the cooling contact surface.
A method for freezing at least one portion of a skin tissue, comprising:
- identifying the skin tissue to be treated with a hypopigmentation;
- and
- contacting a portion of a skin surface of the skin tissue with a non-penetrating continuous cooling contact surface of a cooling plate having a substantially flat or contoured surface for a substantial entire extension thereof so as to freeze the at least one portion of the skin tissue to lighten a pigmentation appearance of the skin tissue, wherein a temperature of the non-penetrating continuous cooling contact surface of the cooing plate is provided at between −5 and −20 degrees Celsius to provide controlled heat removal from the skin tissue so as to locally control a freezing of a continuous region of an epidermal layer of the skin tissue in less than two minutes during a continuous contact between the skin surface and the cooling contact surface.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.