Systems and methods for determining minimal erythema dose for phototherapy
AssigneeBeneSol, Inc.
InventorDavid M. Good
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Phototherapy devices having features to determine a dosing protocol for a user, and associated systems and methods are disclosed herein. In some embodiments, the phototherapy devices can include a color testing component positioned to obtain a measurement of a treatment region of the user's skin. The phototherapy device can use the measurement to calculate an average individual topography angle (ITA) for the user's skin across the treatment region, and use the average ITA to determine a dosing protocol for the user specific to features of their skin. The phototherapy device can then deliver a dose of ultraviolet radiation to the treatment region based on the dosing protocol.
Claims20
A method for determining a dosing protocol for irradiation of a user's skin, the method comprising:
- obtaining one or more images of a treatment region of the user's skin from a color testing component;
- determining, via a controller of a phototherapy device, an average individual topography angle (ITA) for the user's skin across the treatment region based on the one or more images;
- determining, via the controller, an estimated minimal erythema dose (MED) for the treatment region based on the average ITA across the treatment region;
- and
- creating, via controller, the dosing protocol based on the estimated MED for the treatment region, wherein the dosing protocol comprises control settings for one or more ultraviolet (UV) emitters in the phototherapy device to deliver a dose of UV radiation to the user's skin during an individual treatment session that is below an actual MED for the user's skin.
A phototherapy system, comprising:
- a phototherapy device having an active surface with a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs) positioned to emit ultraviolet (UV) radiation forward from the active surface during operation of the phototherapy system;
- a color testing component positioned to obtain one or more images of a treatment region of a user's skin when the user stands forward from the active surface;
- and
- a controller operably coupled to the plurality of LEDs and the color testing component, wherein the controller comprises a processor and a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor cause the controller to:
- receive one or more images of the treatment region of the user's skin from the color testing component when the user stands a predetermined distance from the active surface;
- determine an average individual topography angle (ITA) of the user's skin across the treatment region based on the one or more images;
- determine an estimated minimal erythema dose (MED) for the treatment region based on the average ITA across the treatment region;
- provide, to the phototherapy device, a dosing protocol based on the estimated MED for the treatment region, wherein the dosing protocol comprises control settings for the plurality of LEDs to deliver a dose of UV radiation to the user's skin during an individual treatment session that is below the estimated MED;
- and
- cause the phototherapy device to operate the plurality of LEDs in accordance with the dosing protocol.
A method for determining a dosing protocol for a user's skin, the method comprising:
- calculating, via a controller of a phototherapy system, an estimated starting dose for the user's skin;
- providing, via a testing device positioned in contact with the user's skin, incrementally increasing doses of ultraviolet (UV) radiation to discrete locations in a testing region of the user's skin, wherein the incrementally increasing doses of UV radiation have a lowest dose equal to the estimated starting dose;
- and
- identifying, via the controller, the UV dosing protocol based on a number of erythema events in the testing region after a development period that are experienced in response to the incrementally increasing doses of UV radiation, wherein the dosing protocol comprises control settings for light emitting diodes (LEDs) in the phototherapy device to deliver a dose of the UV radiation to the user's skin during that is below an actual MED for the user's skin.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.