Radiation-based dermatological devices and methods

A self-contained, hand-held device for providing a dermatological treatment, the device comprising:

• a device body configured to be handheld by a user;
• a laser supported in the device body, the laser including a laser beam source configured to generate an energy beam;
• an application end configured to be manually moved across the surface of the skin during a treatment session;
• electronics configured to pulse the laser during the treatment session such that the laser beam source emits a sequence of pulsed energy beams to the skin to generate an array of treatment spots on the skin, wherein adjacent treatment spots generated on the skin are spaced apart from each other by areas of non-treated skin between the adjacent treatment spots, thereby providing a fractional treatment;
• and
• a displacement control system including:
• a displacement sensor configured to generate signals based on an interaction with the skin;
• and
• electronics configured to:
• analyze signals from the displacement sensor to identify instances of a particular skin feature in the skin;
• count the number of identified instances of the particular skin feature:
• and
• control the relative spacing of adjacent treatment spots on the skin by controlling the pulsing of the laser based on the counted number of identified instances of the particular skin feature.

A self-contained, hand-held device for providing a dermatological treatment, the device comprising:

• a device body configured to be handheld by a user;
• a radiation source supported in the device body, the radiation source including a beam source configured to generate an energy beam;
• an application end configured to be manually moved across the surface of the skin during a treatment session;
• electronics configured to pulse the radiation source during the treatment session such that the beam source emits pulsed energy beams to the skin;
• and
• a displacement control system including:
• a sensor configured to generate signals based on an interaction with the skin;
• and
• electronics configured to:
• analyze signals from the sensor to identify skin features in the skin;
• count the number of identified skin features;
• and
• control at least one operational parameter of the device based on the counted number of identified skin features.

A self-contained, hand-held device for providing a dermatological treatment, the device comprising:

• a device body configured to be handheld by a user;
• a radiation source supported in the device body, the radiation source including a beam source configured to generate an energy beam;
• an application end configured to be manually moved across the surface of the skin during a treatment session;
• electronics configured to pulse the radiation source during the treatment session such that the beam source emits pulsed energy beams to the skin;
• and
• a displacement control system programmed to:
• automatically identify instances of a particular intrinsic skin features in the skin proximate the application end of the device;
• count the number of identified instances of the particular intrinsic skin feature;
• and
• control at least one operational parameter of the device based on the counted number of instances of the particular intrinsic skin feature.

A self-contained, hand-held device for providing a dermatological treatment, the device comprising:

• a device body configured to be handheld by a user;
• a radiation source supported in the device body, the radiation source including a beam source configured to generate an energy beam;
• an application end configured to be manually moved across the surface of the skin during a treatment session;
• electronics configured to pulse the radiation source during the treatment session such that the beam source emits pulsed energy beams to the skin;
• and
• a single-pixel solid-state sensor configured to generate signals based on an interaction with the skin;
• and
• electronics configured to:
• analyze signals from the single-pixel solid-state sensor to identify instances of a particular skin feature;
• count the number of identified instances of the particular skin feature;
• and
• control at least one operational parameter of the device based on the counted number of identified instances of the particular skin feature.

A self-contained, hand-held device for providing a dermatological treatment, the device comprising:

• a device body configured to be handheld by a user;
• a radiation source supported in the device body, the radiation source including a beam source configured to generate an energy beam;
• an application end configured to be manually moved across the surface of the skin during a treatment session;
• electronics configured to control the radiation source during the treatment session such that the beam source emits the energy beam to the skin;
• and
• a displacement control system including:
• a displacement sensor configured to generate signals based on an interaction with the skin;
• and
• electronics configured to:
• analyze signals from the displacement sensor to identify instances of a skin feature in the skin;
• count the number of identified instances of the skin feature;
• and
• control at least one operational parameter of the device based on the counted number of identified instances of the skin feature.