Methods of skin rejuvenation using high intensity focused ultrasound to form an ablated tissue area containing a plurality of lesions

A method of skin rejuvenation comprising the steps of

• positioning an ultrasound emitting member adjacent an external surface of the skin;
• emitting ultrasound energy simultaneously from a plurality of ultrasound emitting elements of the ultrasound emitting member;
• focusing the ultrasound energy in the skin below the external surface of the skin at a plurality of spaced focusing zones corresponding to the ultrasound emitting elements, respectively, while the ultrasound emitting member is maintained in one place adjacent the external surface of the skin;
• ablating the skin with the focused ultrasound energy to form an ablated tissue area below the external surface of the skin containing unablated tissue of the skin and a plurality of lesions at the focusing zones, respectively, at which the tissue of the skin is ablated, the reaction to which is production of collagen by the dermis;
• and
• removing the ultrasound emitting member from adjacent the external surface of the skin.

A method of skin rejuvenation comprising the steps of

• positioning an ultrasound emitting member adjacent an external surface of the skin of a patient;
• actuating selected ones of a plurality of ultrasound emitting elements of the ultrasound emitting member to emit ultrasound energy;
• simultaneously emitting ultrasound energy from the selected ultrasound emitting elements into the skin;
• focusing the ultrasound energy in the skin below the epidermis simultaneously at a plurality of spaced focusing zones corresponding to the selected ultrasound emitting elements, respectively;
• ablating the skin with the focused ultrasound energy to form an ablated tissue area below the epidermis containing unablated tissue of the skin and a plurality of lesions at the focusing zones, respectively, at which the tissue of the skin is ablated;
• and
• removing the ultrasound emitting member from adjacent the external surface of the skin.