Self-contained, eye-safe hair-regrowth-inhibition apparatus and method

A dermatologic hair-regrowth-inhibiting apparatus that is cordless and sufficiently compact as to be hand-held, comprising:

• (a) a self-contained housing configured for gripping by a person's hand for cordless manipulation in a hair-regrowth-inhibiting procedure;
• (b) a light source within the housing;
• (c) an electrical circuit including one or more batteries within the housing for energizing the light source to produce output light pulses;
• and
• (d) a light path within the housing including an aperture through which eye-safe light pulses are propagated out of the housing, wherein
• (1) a light pulse emitted by the apparatus has an output fluence sufficient for at least temporary hair-regrowth inhibition, and has a fluence that is less than a maximum permissible exposure (MPE) at the eye of a person, such MPE having a value in J/cm2 equal to 1.8×10−3 t0.75 C4C6, where C4=100.002(λ−700)for infrared wavelengths λ in nm from 700 nm from 1050 nm and C4=5 for 1050 nm to 1000 nm, and C6 is a number between 1 and 66.7 for a diffuse source, and t is the pulse duration in seconds, and
• (2) a majority of the energy of the light pulse is contained within a spectral band of 700 nm to 1100 nm, and
• (3) the light pulse has a duration between 10 milliseconds and one second, and
• (4) the light pulse emitted by the apparatus has an output fluence 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 that is cordless and sufficiently compact as to be hand-held, comprising:

• (a) a self-contained housing configured for gripping by a person's hand for cordless manipulation in a hair-regrowth-inhibiting procedure;
• (b) one or more diode laser light sources within the housing;
• (c) an electrical circuit within the housing for energizing the diode laser light source to produce output light pulses;
• and
• (d) a light path within the housing including an aperture through which eye-safe light pulses are propagated out of the housing, and wherein
• (1) a light pulse emitted by the apparatus has an output fluence that is sufficient for at least temporary hair-regrowth inhibition, and a fluence that is less than a maximum permissible exposure (MPE) at the eye of a person, such MPE having a value in J/cm2 equal to 1.8×10−3 t0.75 C4C6, where C4=100.002(λ−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, and
• (2) a majority of the energy of the light pulse emitted by the apparatus is contained within a spectral band of 700 nm to 1100 nm, and
• (3) light pulses are emitted at a repetition rate between 0.1 Hz and 2 Hz, and
• (4) the light pulse emitted by the apparatus has a pulse duration between 10 milliseconds and 1 second, and
• (5) the light pulse emitted by the apparatus has a peak power between 10 watts and 120 watts, and
• (6) the light pulse emitted by the apparatus has a spot size between 0.25 cm2 and 5 cm2, and
• (7) the light pulse emitted by the apparatus has an output fluence between 4 J/cm2 and 100 J/cm2, and
• (8) the cordless apparatus has a total weight of no more than 1 kilogram, and
• (9) the cordless apparatus occupies no more than 1500 cm3 of volume, 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 that is cordless and sufficiently compact as to be hand-held, comprising:

• (a) a self-contained housing configured for gripping by a person's hand for cordless manipulation in a hair-regrowth-inhibiting procedure;
• (b) one or more flashlamp light sources within the housing;
• (c) an electrical circuit within the housing for energizing the flashlamp light source to produce output light pulses;
• and
• (d) a light path within the housing including an aperture through which eye-safe light pulses are propagated out of the housing, and wherein
• (1) a light pulse emitted by the apparatus has an output fluence that is sufficient for at least temporary hair-regrowth inhibition, and a fluence that is less than a maximum permissible exposure (MPE) at the eye of a person, such MPE having a value in J/cm 2 equal to 1.8×10−3 t0.75 C4C6, where C4=1 for 400 nm to 700 nm light and C4=100.002(λ−700) for infared wavelengths λ in nm from 700 nm to 1050 nm and C4=5 for 1050 nm light, and C6 is a number between 1 and 66.7 for a diffuse source, and t is the pulse duration in seconds, and
• (2) a majority of the energy of the light pulse is contained within a spectral band of 500 nm to 1100 nm, and
• (3) a repetition rate of light pulses emitted by the apparatus is between 0.1 Hz and 2 Hz, and
• (4) the light pulse emitted by the apparatus has a pulse duration between 10 milliseconds and 1 second, and
• (5) the light pulse emitted by the apparatus has a peak power between 10 watts and 120 watts, and
• (6) the light pulse emitted by the apparatus has a spot size between 0.25 cm2 and 5 cm2, and
• (7) the light pulse emitted by the apparatus has an output fluence between 4 J/cm2 and 100 J/cm2, and
• (8) the cordless apparatus has a total weight of no more than 1 kilogram, and
• (9) the cordless apparatus occupies no more than 1500 cm3 of volume, 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 that is cordless and sufficiently compact as to be hand-held, comprising:

• (a) a self-contained housing configured for gripping by a person's hand for cordless manipulation in a hair-regrowth-inhibiting procedure;
• (b) one or more light emitting diode (LED) light sources within the housing;
• (c) an electrical circuit within the housing for energizing the LED light source to produce output light pulses;
• and
• (d) a light path within the housing including an aperture through which eye-safe light pulses are propagated out of the housing, wherein
• (1) a light pulse emitted by the apparatus has an output fluence that is sufficient for at least temporary hair regrowth inhibition and a fluence that is less than a maximum permissible exposure (MPE) at the eye of a person, such MPE having a value in J/cm2 equal to 1.8×10−3 t0.75 C4C6, where C4=1 for 400 nm to 700 nm light and C4=100.002(λ−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, and
• (2) a majority of the energy of the light pulse is contained within a spectral band of 600 nm to 1100 nm, and
• (3) light pulses are emitted at a repetition rate between 0.1 Hz and 2 Hz, and
• (4) the light pulse emitted by the apparatus has a pulse duration between 10 milliseconds and 1 second, and
• (5) the light pulse emitted by the apparatus has a peak power between 10 watts and 120 watts, and
• (6) the light pulse emitted by the apparatus has a spot size between 0.25 cm2 and 5 cm2, and
• (7) the light pulse emitted by the apparatus has an output fluence between 4 J/cm2 and 100 J/cm2, and
• (8) the cordless apparatus has a total weight of no more than 1 kilogram, and
• (9) the cordless apparatus occupies no more than 1500 cm3 of volume, 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 hair-regrowth-inhibiting method for cordlessly inhibiting hair regrowth, comprising:

• (a) gripping in a person's hand a self-contained housing assembly of a hair-regrowth-inhibiting device;
• (b) positioning the housing assembly such that an output window component of the device contacts an epidermis of a same or different person;
• (c) energizing a light source with an electrical circuit including one or more batteries, each contained within the housing assembly, to produce output light pulses;
• (d) transmitting the output light pulses generated by the light source along a light path within the housing including an aperture through which eye-safe light pulses are propagated from the housing assembly having properties sufficient for at least temporarily inhibiting hair regrowth;
• (e) diffusing the output light pulses along the light path so that an integrated radiance of the output light pulses is reduced to an eye-safe value;
• and
• (f) cordlessly manipulating the hand-held, dermatologic device in a hair-regrowth-inhibiting procedure, and
• wherein the hair-regrowth-inhibiting device produces a fluence on the epidermis that is sufficient to at least temporarily inhibit hair regrowth and that has an integrated radiance insufficient to cause eye damage.