Skin treating device with protection against rediation pulse overdose

Abstract

The invention relates to a device (1) for the treatment of skin (7) by means of radiation pulses. The device comprises a housing (3) accommodating a radiation source (9) and a control unit (37) for controlling the radiation source. According to the invention, the device has a detector (43), which is suitable for measuring a biophysical property of the skin, and the control unit has means for determining, on the basis of a value or a condition of the biophysical property measured by the detector, a pulse dose from the radiation source that is safe for skin. In this manner, the device is automatically protected against an overdose from the radiation source that could cause undesirable side-effects on the skin. In a particular embodiment, the biophysical property measured by the detector (43) is a temperature increase of the skin (7) as a result of at least one test radiation pulse having a predetermined, safe pulse dose. In other embodiments, the biophysical property is the dispersion and/or absorption coefficient or the reflection coefficient of the skin for light having a predetermined wavelength. The invention can be used, for example, in a hair removing device (1, 53, 53′, 95) such as a laser epilator, a laser shaver or a flashlight epilator, but also in devices for the medical treatment of skin by means of radiation, such as photodermatology systems.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.