Method And Apparatus For Photothermal Treatment Of Tissue At Depth

19-20. (canceled)

A method for treating at least a selected region at depth of a patient's body while protecting tissue above the selected region, comprising:

• (a) selectively delivering optical radiation at a power between approximately 0.2 and 50 W/cm2 to the patient's body above said selected region, said power varying at least in part as a function of the depth of said selected region, said optical radiation being applied to said selected region for at least approximately 2 seconds;
• and
• (b) concurrently cooling patient tissue above said selected region to a temperature below that of the selected region.

(canceled)

41-43. (canceled)

Apparatus for treating at least a selected region at depth of a patient while protecting tissue above the selected region, comprising:

• an optical radiation source for delivering radiation at a power of between approximately 0.2-50 W/cm2 to the patient's skin for a duration between two seconds and two hours, both said power and said duration increasing with increased depth for said selected region;
• and
• a cooling mechanism for cooling tissue above said selected region to a temperature below that of said selected region.

Apparatus for treating at least a selected region at depth of a patient while protecting tissue above the selected region, comprising:

• an optical radiation source for delivering radiation of a wavelength between 600 nm and 1850 nm and at a power of between approximately 0.2-50 W/cm2 to the patient's skin, the wavelength and the power both varying as a function of the depth of the selected region;
• and
• a cooling mechanism for cooling tissue above said selected region to a temperature below that of said selected region.

Apparatus for treating at least a selected region at depth of a patient while protecting tissue above the selected region, comprising:

• an optical radiation source for delivering radiation of a wavelength between about 600 nm and about 1850 nm, at a power of between approximately 0.2-50 W/cm2 to the patient's skin for a duration between about two seconds and two hours, the wavelength, duration and power all varying as a function of the depth of the selected region;
• and
• a cooling mechanism for cooling tissue above said selected region to a temperature below that of said selected region.

A method for treating at least a selected region at depth of a patient's body while protecting tissue above the selected region, comprising:

• (a) selectively delivering radiation at a power between approximately 0.2 and 50 W/cm2 to the patient's body above said selected region for a duration of about two seconds to about two hours, both said power and said duration varying with the depth of said selected region;
• and
• (b) concurrently cooling patient tissue above said selected region to a temperature below that of the selected region.

A method for treating at least a selected region at depth of a patient's body while protecting tissue above the selected region, comprising:

• (a) selectively delivering radiation of a wavelength between about 600 nm and about 1850 nm and at a power between approximately 0.2 and 50 W/cm2 to the patient's body above said selected region, both said power and wavelength varying as a function of the depth of said selected region;
• and
• (b) concurrently cooling patient tissue above said selected region to a temperature below that of the selected region.

A method for treating at least a selected region at depth of a patient's body while protecting tissue above the selected region, comprising:

• (a) selectively delivering radiation to the patient's body above said selected region to heat the region, said radiation being selected so as not to be scattered or absorbed by tissue above said selected region sufficiently to prevent sufficient radiation from reaching the selected region to effect a desired treatment;
• and
• (b) concurrently cooling patient tissue above said selected region to a temperature below that of the selected region.

A method for hair management comprising:

• (a) selectively delivering radiation to the patient's body above a region of subdermal fat containing a bulb for a hair to be removed to heat the region and thus the hair bulb, resulting in damage thereto;
• and
• (b) concurrently cooling patient tissue above said region to a temperature below that of the region.