Method and apparatus for dermatology treatment
AssigneesPalomar Medical Technologies, Inc., The General Hospital Corporation
InventorsGregory B. Altshuler, R. Rox Anderson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Methods and apparatus for dermatology treatment are provided which involve the use of continuous wave (CW) radiation, preheating of the treatment volume, precooling, cooling during treatment and post-treatment cooling of the epidermis above the treatment volume, various beam focusing techniques to reduce scattering and/or other techniques for reducing the cost and/or increasing the efficacy of optical radiation for use in hair removal and other dermatological treatments. A number of embodiments are included for achieving the various objectives indicated above.
Claims51
Apparatus for effecting a selected dermatologic treatment on an area of a patient's skin including:
- a source of continuous wave (CW) radiation at a wavelength appropriate for the selected dermatologic treatment;
- and
- a head having at least one optically transparent channel formed therethrough, each said channel having a proximal end connected to receive CW radiation from said source and a distal end terminating in a radiation aperture which is smaller than the said area of the patient's skin, said apparatus being operative to deliver the CW radiation from said source through said at least one channel to successive radiation aperture sized portions of the patient's skin when said radiation aperture is in contact with said area of the patient's skin and the head is moving at a selected rate over said area.
Apparatus for effecting a selected dermatologic treatment on a selected volume of a patient's skin located at a depth d which is below the dermal/epidermal (DE) junction comprising:
- a first mechanism for preheating the patient's skin to raise the selected volume to a selected temperature while not heating any portion of the skin to a temperature sufficient to cause thermal damage thereto;
- a second mechanism for cooling the patient's epidermis above said selected volume to a temperature below normal body temperature without resulting in any appreciable cooling of said selected volume;
- and
- a third mechanism for applying electromagnetic radiation to said selected volume through said cooled epidermis, the radiation being of a wavelength, energy and duration sufficient, in conjunction with the preheating, to effect thermal damage to at least a selected biological component within said selected volume without causing thermal damage to the cooled epidermis.
A method for effecting a selected dermatologic treatment on an area of a patient's skin including the steps of:
- placing a head having at least one optically transparent channel formed therethrough in contact with the patient's skin in said area, said at least one channel having a distal end positioned to deliver optical radiation to a segment of the patient's skin which segment is smaller than said area,
- moving said head, while in contact with the patient's skin, at a selected rate over said area, and
- applying CW radiation of a wavelength appropriate for the selected dermatologic treatment through the at least one channel to the patient's skin.
A method for effecting a selected dermatologic treatment on a selected volume of a patient's skin located at a depth d which is below the dermal/epidermal (DE) junction including the steps of:
- (a) preheating the patient's skin to raise the selected volume to a selected temperature while not heating any portion of the skin to a temperature sufficient to cause thermal damage thereto;
- (b) cooling the patient's epidermis above said selected volume to a temperature below normal body temperature without resulting in any appreciable cooling of said selected volume;
- and
- (c) applying electromagnetic radiation to said selected volume through said cooled epidermis, the radiation being of a wavelength, energy and duration sufficient, in conjunction with the preheating, to effect thermal damage to at least a selected biological component within said selected volume without causing thermal damage to the cooled epidermis.
Apparatus for effecting a selected dermatologic treatment on a selected volume of a patient's skin located at a depth d which is below the dermal/epidermal (DE) junction including:
- a first mechanism for preheating the patient's skin to raise the selected volume to a selected temperature while not heating any portion of the skin to a temperature sufficient to cause thermal damage thereto;
- and
- a second mechanism for applying electromagnetic radiation to said selected volume, the radiation being of a wavelength, energy and duration sufficient, in conjunction with the preheating, to effect thermal damage to at least a selected biological component within said selected volume without causing significant thermal damage to surrounding tissue.
A method for effecting a selected dermatologic treatment on a selected volume of a patient's skin located at a depth d which is below the dermal/epidermal (DE) junction including the steps of:
- (a) preheating the patient's skin to raise the selected volume to a selected temperature while not heating any portion of the skin to a temperature sufficient to cause thermal damage thereto;
- and
- (b) applying electromagnetic radiation to said selected volume, the radiation being of a wavelength, energy and duration sufficient, in conjunction with the preheating, to effect thermal damage to at least a selected biological component within said selected volume, there being a finite time interval between said preheating step ending and said applying step beginning.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.