Apparatus for smoothing contour irregularities of skin surface
AssigneeThermage, Inc.
InventorEdward W. Knowlton
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus to modify a skin surface or a soft tissue structure underlying the skin surface includes a template with a mechanical force application surface and a receiving opening to receive a body structure. The mechanical force application surface is configured to receive the body structure and apply pressure to the soft tissue structure. An energy delivery device is coupled to the template. The energy delivery device is configured to deliver sufficient energy to the template to form a template energy delivery surface.
Claims30
An apparatus for smoothing contour irregularities of a skin surface overlaying a tissue site, comprising:
- a conformer that is thermally conductive, the conformer having a skin-contacting surface that is conformable to the general three-dimensional contour of the tissue site beneath the skin surface and a non-skin-contacting surface that serves as a mechanical force application surface;
- and
- a plurality of energy delivery devices incorporated into the conformer and each of which provides a selective and controlled delivery of energy through the conformer to the tissue site beneath the skin surface to smooth the contour irregularities of the skin surface,
- a reverse thermal gradient device for cooling the skin surface when the apparatus is applied to the skin surface;
- wherein
- the skin-contacting surface conforms to the three dimensional contour of the tissue site beneath the skin when the conformer is placed on the skin surface and an external mechanical force is applied to the conformer through the mechanical application surface of the conformer.
An apparatus for smoothing contour irregularities of a skin surface overlaying a tissue site, comprising:
- a conformer that is thermally conductive, the conformer having a skin-contacting surface that is conformable to the general three-dimensional contour of the tissue site beneath the skin surface and a non-skin-contacting surface that serves as a mechanical force application surface;
- a handle attached to the mechanical force application surface of the conformer for manual manipulation of the conformer;
- and
- a plurality of energy delivery devices incorporated into the conformer and each of which provides a selective and controlled delivery of energy through the conformer to the tissue site beneath the skin surface to smooth the contour irregularities of the skin surface,
- wherein
- the skin-contacting surface conforms to the three dimensional contour of the tissue site beneath the skin when the conformer is placed on the skin surface and an external mechanical force is applied to the conformer through the mechanical application surface of the conformer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.