SAFE SKIN TREATMENT APPARATUS FOR PERSONAL USE AND METHOD FOR ITS USE

• US 20110245735A1
• Filed: 09/03/2009
• Published: 10/06/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/11/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Syneron Medical Limited (Syneron Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Syneron Medical Limited (Syneron Incorporated)
• Inventors: Flyash, Lion, Eckhouse, Shimon, Vaynberg, Boris
• Granted Patent: US 8,702,769 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 601/3
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 18/1477 Needle-like probes
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 18/24 with a catheter A61B18/26, A61B18/28 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/00084 Temperature
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2018/00011 with fluids
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2018/00077 high, i.e. electrically conducting
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2018/00083 low, i.e. electrically insulating
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2018/00148 with metal
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2018/00291 using suction
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2018/00452 Skin
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2018/00464 Subcutaneous fat, e.g. liposuction, lipolysis
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2018/00797 measured by multiple temperature sensors
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 7/00 Ultrasound therapy lithotripsy A61B17/22, A61B17/225; massage using supersonic vibration A61H23/00 ; using ultrasound for introducing media into the body A61M37/0092

Abstract

A technique for detecting and providing alerts or indications that can be used for controlling or altering the displacement speed of an applicator coupling skin heating energy across a treated skin. A temperature sensor monitors the rate of skin temperature change and provides feedback related to altering the applicator displacement speed according to the rate of skin temperature change. Disclosed is also an applicator for implementing this method.

Claims

1. A method of controlling displacement speed a skin heating energy applicator across the skin, said method comprising:

coupling to the skin an applicator and applying one or more types of skin heating energy to said skin;

displacing said applicator across the skin and monitoring the rate of skin temperature change; and

altering said applicator displacement speed according to the rate of skin temperature change.

2. The method according to claim 1 wherein the skin heating energy is one of a group consisting of optical radiation, RF energy, and ultrasound energy.

3. The method according to claim 1 further comprising increasing applicator displacement speed when the rate of skin temperature change increases.

4. The method according to claim 1 further comprising cutting off the supply of skin heating energy to the applicator when the applicator displacement speed is such that the rate of temperature change reaches the upper limit of the rate of said temperature change.

5. The method according to claim 2 further comprising treating a segment of skin by bringing into contact one or more RF electrodes with said skin, coupling RF energy to said skin and continuously monitoring said RF electrode with skin contact quality by measuring the impedance of said segment of treated skin.

6. The method according to claim 2 further comprising coupling one or more ultrasound energy transducers to the skin, applying ultrasound energy to said skin and continuously monitoring the application quality between the ultrasound energy transducer and the skin by measuring at least one of the group consisting of reflected ultrasound energy or the load of the ultrasound transducer.

7. The method according to claim 2 wherein the coupling of optical radiation to the skin is by irradiating the skin with optical radiation from one or more sources thereof.

8. The method according to claim 1 further comprising setting the upper and lower limits of the rate of skin temperature change and setting the upper and lower limit of absolute temperature values.

9. The method according to claim 8 wherein upon achieving a limit of the rate of skin temperature change the supply of skin heating energy to the skin is altered.

10. The method according to claim 8 wherein upon reaching a limit of the rate of skin temperature change, the displacement speed of the source of skin heating energy is altered.

11. The method according to claim 8 wherein upon reaching said upper limit of the rate of skin temperature change or upper temperature limit, the supply of RF energy is switched off.

12. The method according to claim 8 wherein also alerting the user, upon reaching a limit of the rate of skin temperature change, by a visible or audio signal as to the skin heating energy skin interaction status.

13. A safe method for skin treatment by skin heating energy, said method comprising:

coupling at least one source of skin heating energy to a segment of skin;

displacing the source of skin heating energy at a constant speed across said segment of skin and monitoring the rate of skin temperature change; and

altering the operation of said source of skin heating energy coupled to the skin according to the rate of said skin temperature change.

14. The method according to claim 13 wherein the skin heating energy is one of a group consisting of optical radiation, RF energy, and ultrasound energy.

15. The method according to claim 14 further comprising decreasing the skin heating energy applied to said skin when the rate of skin temperature change increases.

16. The method according to claim 13 further comprising setting the upper and lower limits of the rate of the skin temperature change.

17. The method according to claim 16 wherein also alerting the user, upon reaching a limit of the rate of electrode temperature change, by a visible or audio signal on the skin heating energy skin interaction status.

18. The method according to claim 16 wherein also cutting off the supply of skin heating energy to the skin when the upper limit of the rate of the skin temperature change is reached.

19. The method according to claim 14 further comprising treating a segment of skin by bringing into contact one or more RF electrodes with said skin, coupling RF energy to said skin and continuously monitoring said RF electrode with skin contact quality by measuring the impedance of said segment of treated skin.

20. The method according to claim 14 further comprising coupling one or more ultrasound energy transducers to the skin, applying ultrasound energy to said skin and continuously monitoring the application quality between the ultrasound energy transducer and the skin by measuring at least one of the group consisting of reflected ultrasound energy or the load of the ultrasound transducer.

21. The method according to claim 14 wherein the coupling of optical radiation to the skin is by irradiating the skin with optical radiation from one or more sources thereof.

22. A method of user-controlled efficacy of skin heating energy application to skin, said method comprising:

coupling to the skin an applicator having at least one visual signal indicator, at least one audio signal indicator and at least one source of energy;

applying said energy to said skin;

displacing the applicator across the skin and monitoring the rate of skin temperature change; and

alerting the user of the need to alter the applicator displacement speed.

23. The method according to claim 22 wherein also employing a visual indicator signal to indicate to the user the need to reduce the applicator displacement speed across the skin.

24. The method according to claim 22 wherein employing an audio signal to indicate to the user the need to increase the applicator displacement speed across the skin.

25. An applicator for safe application of one or more types of skin heating energy to a subject skin, said applicator comprising:

one or more sources of skin heating energy operative to apply said energy to skin;

a temperature sensor operative to provide an indication of skin temperature;

a mechanism operative to convert said temperature into rate of temperature change; and

a mechanism operative to indicate the quality of at least one type of skin heating energy-skin coupling.

26. The applicator according to claim 25 wherein the source of skin heating energy is at least one of a group consisting of optical radiation source configured to irradiate the skin, RF energy source configured to apply to the skin RF energy with one or more electrodes RF energy, and a source of ultrasound energy configured to employ one or more ultrasound transducers to apply ultrasound energy to the skin.

27. The applicator according to claim 26 wherein said electrodes are one of a group consisting of electrodes having elongated and curved bodies.

28. The applicator according to claim 26 wherein said electrodes are made of one of a group consisting of heat conductive metal, metal coated plastic or composite material.

29. The electrodes according to claim 26 wherein said electrodes are one of a group consisting of solid, flexible, and hollow electrodes.

30. The electrodes according to claim 26 wherein said electrodes are detachable electrodes.

31. The applicator according to claim 26 wherein said ultrasound transducers are one of a group consisting of conventional and phased array transducers.

32. The applicator according to claim 25 wherein the temperature sensor is one of a group consisting of thermistor, thermocouple, resistance temperature detectors, and a pyrometer.

33. The applicator according to claim 32 wherein the temperature sensor is associated with at least one temperature probe.

34. The applicator according to claim 32 wherein the temperature sensor is associated with at least one RF electrode.

35. The applicator according to claim 26 wherein the source of optical radiation is one of a group consisting of incandescent lamps and lamps optimized for emission of red and infrared radiation and a reflector, Intense Pulse Light source, a LED, and a laser diode.

36. The applicator according to claim 25 further comprising a manually or automatically operated gel dispenser.

37. The applicator according to claim 25 further comprising a visual signal indicator and an audio signal indicator, said indicators being configured to provide the status of interaction of the skin heating energy with the skin.

38. The applicator according to claim 37 wherein the visual signal indicator is operative to indicate that applicator displacement speed is faster than proper displacement speed and the audio indicator is operative to signify that the applicator displacement speed is slower than the proper applicator displacement speed.

39. The applicator according to claim 37 wherein the visual signal indicator is operative to indicate that the skin heating energy level is lower than necessary, and the audio indicator is operative to signify that the skin heating energy level is higher than necessary.

40. The applicator according to claim 25 further comprising a case that is convenient to hold.

41. An applicator for safe application of skin heating energy to a skin of a subject, said applicator comprising:

one or more sources of skin heating energy operative to be coupled to said skin and affect a segment of skin;

a temperature sensor operative to provide the rate of skin temperature change;

a source of optical radiation configured to irradiate at least said segment of skin affected by one or more sources of skin heating radiation; and

an optical radiation filter selected to transmit red and infrared optical radiation, emitted by the source of optical radiation.

42. The applicator according to claim 41 wherein the source of skin heating energy is one of a group consisting of RF energy source and ultrasound energy source.

43. The applicator according to claim 42 wherein the RF energy source applies RF energy to the skin by contact of one or more RF electrodes with the skin.

44. The applicator according to claim 42 wherein the ultrasound energy source applies ultrasound energy to the skin by coupling one or more ultrasound energy transducer with the skin.

45. The applicator according to claim 41 wherein the optical radiation source couples the optical radiation to the skin by irradiating the segment of the skin between the RF electrodes.

46. The applicator according to claim 44 wherein the optical radiation source couples the optical radiation to the skin by irradiating the segment of the skin between the ultrasound energy transducers.

47. The applicator according to claim 41 wherein the optical radiation filter serves as a mounting basis for at least one RF electrode.

48. The applicator according to claim 41 further comprising a manually or automatically operated gel dispenser.

49. The applicator according to claim 41 wherein the source of optical radiation is one of a group consisting of incandescent lamps and lamps optimized for emission of red and infrared radiation and a reflector, a LED, and a laser diode.

50. The applicator according to claim 41 further comprising a visual signal indicator and an audio signal indicator, said indicators being configured to provide the status of RF energy interaction with the skin.

51. The applicator according to claim 50 wherein the visual signal indicator is operative to indicate that applicator displacement speed is faster than proper displacement speed and the audio indicator is operative to signify that the applicator displacement speed is slower than the proper applicator displacement speed.

52. The applicator according to claim 41 further comprising a mechanism configured to continuously measure skin impedance.

53. The applicator according to claim 41 further comprising a case that is convenient to hold.

54. An apparatus for safe application of skin heating energy to skin of a subject, said apparatus comprising:

an applicator for safe application of skin heating energy to skin of a subject comprising;

at least one source of skin heating energy configured to be applied to the skin;

a temperature sensor configured to provide a temperature reading;

a feedback loop configured to monitor the quality of the skin heating energy

skin coupling; and

a controller configured to control operation of the apparatus, receive said temperature sensor and feedback loop values and adjust accordingly the applicator operation.

55. The apparatus according to claim 54 wherein the applicator includes at least one visual status indicator and at least one audio status indicator.

56. The apparatus according to claim 55 wherein the visual status indicator is operative to indicate faster than proper applicator movement speed and the audio status indicator is operative to alert on slower than proper applicator movement speed.