Broad-area irradiation of small near-field targets using ultrasound
AssigneeCutera, Inc.
InventorsLukas HUNZIKER, Justin May, Tonee Smith
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An ultrasonic transducer system for treating a portion of tissue. The ultrasonic transducer system includes a frequency generator, an ultrasonic transducer, and a transmitter element. The transducer receives an AC voltage from the frequency generator and produces an ultrasonic energy pulse at an ultrasonic frequency for a pulse width. The transmitter element is coupled to the transducer and is for irradiating a portion of skin tissue. The transmitter element has a chilled surface in contact with the skin tissue and an acoustic aperture for producing a substantially collimated energy beam. The beam has a width greater than 4 mm.
Claims37
An ultrasonic transducer system for treating tissue comprising:
- a frequency generator for generating an AC voltage;
- a transducer receiving the AC voltage from the frequency generator for producing an ultrasonic energy pulse at an ultrasonic frequency for a pulse width;
- and
- a transmitter element coupled to the transducer for irradiating a portion of skin tissue;
- the transmitter element having:
- an acoustic aperture for producing a substantially collimated energy beam, the beam having a width greater than 4 mm;
- and
- a chilled surface in contact with the skin tissue.
A method of inhibiting hair growth in a skin tissue, the method comprising:
- placing an ultrasonic transducer in contact with the skin tissue,
- the transducer having an acoustic aperture for producing a substantially collimated energy beam over a treatment area greater than 16 mm2, and a chilled surface in contact with the skin tissue,
- the tissue having a plurality of hair follicles within the treatment area,
- generating one or more ultrasonic energy pulses, each energy pulse at a corresponding frequency and pulse width.
An ultrasonic transducer system for treating a tissue comprising:
- a controller for setting a treatment protocol, the protocol comprised of a sequence of ultrasonic frequencies and a corresponding sequence of exposure times;
- a frequency modulator controlled by the controller for producing the sequence of ultrasonic frequencies for the corresponding sequence of exposure times;
- and
- a transducer driven by the frequency modulator for producing a sequence of ultrasonic energy pulses at the sequence of frequencies for the sequence of exposure times,
- the transducer having a treatment area larger than 16 mm2 and adapted for direct contact with the tissue.
A method of inhibiting hair growth in a skin tissue, the method comprising:
- placing an ultrasonic transducer in contact with the skin tissue,
- the skin tissue including a plurality of hair follicles,
- the transducer having a surface area greater than 1 cm2 in contact with the skin tissue;
- generating one or more ultrasonic energy pulses, by driving the transducer with a drive frequency;
- and
- varying the drive frequency to create a substantially uniform energy distribution in the skin tissue underlying the transducer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.