Eye-safe dermatologic treatment apparatus and method

A dermatologic treatment apparatus, comprising:

• (a) one or more housings with at least one housing configured for manipulation in a dermatologic treatment procedure;
• (b) a light source within at least one of the housings;
• (c) an electrical circuit for energizing the light source to produce output light pulses;
• (d) a light path from the light source to an aperture through which eye-safe light pulses are propagated out of at least one of the housings;
• (e) a reflective optical diffuser disposed along the light path so that an integrated radiance of the output light pulses is reduced to an eye-safe value, and
• (f) wherein the output fluence of a light pulse emitted by the apparatus is not less than 4 J/cm2, and
• whereby in use, the dermatologic treatment apparatus produces a fluence on an epidermis of a subject undergoing treatment that is sufficient for efficacious treatment and that has an integrated radiance insufficient to cause eye damage.

A dermatologic hair-regrowth-inhibiting apparatus comprising:

• (a) one or more housings with at least one housing configured for manipulation in a hair-regrowth-inhibiting procedure;
• (b) one or more diode laser light sources within at least one of the housings;
• (c) an electrical circuit for energizing the diode laser light source to produce output light pulses;
• (d) a light path from the one or more diode laser light sources to an aperture through which eye-safe light pulses are propagated out of at least one of the housings;
• (e) an optical diffuser disposed along the light path so that an integrated radiance of the output light pulses is reduced to an eye-safe value, and wherein
• (1) a light pulse emitted by the apparatus has a fluence at the eye of a person of less than a maximum permissible exposure (MPE), such MPE having a value in J/cm2 equal to 1.8×10−3t0.75 C4C6, where C4=1 for 400 nm to 700 nm light and 100.002(μ−700) for infrared wavelengths λ in nm from 700 nm to 1050 nm and C4=5 for 1050 nm to 1100 nm light, and C6 is a number between 1 and 66.7 for a diffuse source, and t is the pulse duration in seconds;
• (2) a majority of the energy of the light pulse is contained within a spectral band of 700 to 1100 nm;
• (3) light pulses are emitted at a pulse repetition frequency between 0.1 Hz and 2 Hz;
• (4) the light pulse has a pulse duration between 10 milliseconds and 1 second;
• (5) the light pulse has a peak power between 10 watts and 120 watts;
• (6) the light pulse at the aperture has a spot size between 0.25 cm2 and 5 cm2;
• (7) an output fluence of the light pulse is between 4 J/cm and 100 J/cm2, and
• whereby in use, the hair-regrowth-inhibiting apparatus produces a fluence on an epidermis of a subject undergoing treatment that is sufficient to at least temporarily inhibit hair regrowth and that has an integrated radiance insufficient to cause eye damage.

A dermatologic hair-regrowth-inhibiting apparatus, comprising:

• (a) one or more housings with at least one housing configured for manipulation in a hair-regrowth-inhibiting procedure;
• (b) one or more light emitting diode light sources within at least one of the housings;
• (c) an electrical circuit for energizing the light emitting diode light source to produce output light pulses;
• (d) a light path from the one or more light sources to an aperture through which eye-safe light pulses are propagated out of at least one of the housings;
• (e) an optical diffuser disposed along the light path so that an integrated radiance of the output light pulses is reduced to an eye-safe value, and wherein
• (1) a light pulse emitted by the apparatus has a fluence at the eye of a person of less than a maximum permissible exposure (MPE), such MPE having a value in J/cm2 equal to 1.8×10−3t0.75 C4C6, where C4=1 for 400 nm to 700 nm light and C4=100.002(μ−700) for infrared wavelengths λ in nm from 700 nm to 1050 nm and C4=5 for 1050 nm to 1100 nm light, and C6 is a number between 1 and 66.7 for a diffuse source, and t is the pulse duration in seconds;
• (2) a majority of the energy of the light pulse is contained within a spectral band of 600 nm to 1100 nm;
• (3)light pulses are emitted at a pulse repetition frequency between 0.1 Hz and 2 Hz;
• (4) the light pulse has a pulse duration between 10 milliseconds and 1 second;
• (5) the light pulse has a peak power between 10 watts and 120 watts;
• (6) the light pulse at the aperture has a spot size between 0.25 cm2 and 5 cm2;
• (7) the output fluence of a light pulse is between 4 J/cm2 and 100 J/cm2, and
• whereby in use, the hair-regrowth-inhibiting apparatus produces a fluence on an epidermis of a subject undergoing treatment that is sufficient to at least temporarily inhibit hair regrowth and that has an integrated radiance insufficient to cause eye damage.

A dermatologic hair-regrowth-inhibiting apparatus, comprising:

• (a) one or more housings with at least one housing configured for manipulation in a hair-regrowth-inhibiting procedure;
• (b) one or more flashlamp light sources within at least one of the housings;
• (c) an electrical circuit for energizing the flashlamp light source to produce output light pulses;
• (d) a light path from the one or more flashlamp light sources to an aperture through which eye-safe light pulses are propagated out of at least one of the housings;
• (e) an optical diffuser disposed along the light path so that an integrated radiance of the output light pulses is reduced to an eye-safe value, and wherein
• (1) a light pulse emitted by the apparatus has a fluence at the eye of a person of less than a maximum permissible exposure (MPE), such MPE having a value in J/cm2 equal to 1.8×103t0.75 C4C6, where C4=1 for 400 nm to 700 nm light and C4=100.002(μ−700) for infrared wavelengths λ in nm from 700 nm to 1050 nm and C4=5 for 1050 nm to 1100 nm light, and C6 is a number between 1 and 66.7 for a diffuse source, and t is the pulse duration in seconds;
• (2) a majority of the energy of the light pulse is contained within a spectral band of 500 nm to 1100 nm;
• (3) light pulses are emitted at a pulse repetition frequency between 0.1 Hz and 2 Hz;
• (4) the light pulse has a pulse duration between 10 milliseconds and 1 second;
• (5) the light pulse has a peak power between 10 watts and 120 watts;
• (6) the light pulse at the aperture has a spot size between 0.25 cm2 and 5 cm2;
• (7) an output fluence of the light pulse is between 4 J/cm and 100 J/cm2, and
• whereby in use, the hair-regrowth-inhibiting apparatus produces a fluence on an epidermis of a subject undergoing treatment that is sufficient to at least temporarily inhibit hair regrowth and that has an integrated radiance insufficient to cause eye damage.

A dermatologic photorejuvenative treatment apparatus, comprising:

• (a) one or more housings with at least one housing configured for manipulation in a dermatologic photorejuvenative treatment procedure;
• (b) one or more flashlamp light sources within at least one of the housings;
• (c) an electrical circuit for energizing the flashlamp light source to produce output light pulses;
• (d) a light path from the one or more flashlamp light sources to an aperture through which eye-safe light pulses are propagated out of at least one of the housings;
• (e) an optical diffuser disposed along the light path so that an the integrated radiance of the output light pulses is reduced to an eye-safe value, and wherein
• (1) the fluence at the eye of a person is less than a maximum permissible exposure (MPE), such MPE having a value in J/cm2 equal to 1.8×10−3t0.75 C4C6, where C4=1 for 400 nm to 700 nm light and 100.002(μ−700) for infrared wavelengths λ in nm from 700 nm to 1050 nm and C4=5 for 1050 nm to 1100 nm light, and C6 is a number between 1 and 66.7 for a diffuse source, and t is the pulse duration in seconds;
• (2) a majority of the energy of the light pulse is contained within a spectral band of 500 to 1100 nm;
• (3) the light pulses are emitted at a pulse repetition frequency between 0.1 Hz and 2 Hz;
• (4) the light pulse has a pulse duration between 10 milliseconds and 1 second;
• (5) wherein the light pulse has a peak power between 10 watts and 120 watts;
• (6) the light pulse at the aperture has a spot size between 0.25 cm2 and 5 cm2;
• (7) the output fluence of the light pulse is between 4 J/cm2 and 100 J/cm2,
• and whereby in use, the apparatus produces a fluence on an epidermis of a subject undergoing treatment that is sufficient for efficacious photorejuvenation treatment and that has an integrated radiance insufficient to cause eye damage.

A dermatologic treatment method for treating a person's skin, comprising:

• (a) gripping in a person's hand a handpiece assembly of a dermatologic treatment device;
• (b) positioning the handpiece assembly such that an output window component of the device contacts a region of the epidermis of a same or different person;
• (c) energizing a light source with an electrical circuit to produce output light pulses;
• (d) transmitting the light pulses generated by the light source along a light path including an aperture through which eye-safe light pulses are propagated having an output fluence not less than 4 J/cm2;
• (e) optically diffusing the light pulses along the light path so that an integrated radiance of the output light pulses is reduced to an eye-safe value;
• (f) manipulating the device in a skin treatment procedure, and
• (g) wherein the device produces a fluence on a skin surface that is undergoing the skin treatment procedure that is sufficient for efficacious treatment and that has an integrated radiance insufficient to cause eye damage.