Eyelid Care Appliance
First Claim
1. An eyelid care appliance comprising a power supply, motor, drive system that transmits motive force from the motor to oscillate a head receiver, motor controls, a proximity system, and proximity annunciator contained in a housing, wherein a spongehead is detachably mated with the head receiver and protrudes from the housing and oscillates when the motor is powered on.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
Disclosed herein is an improved eyelid care appliance and method of using such appliance for preventing and treating blepharitis and mammalian meibomian gland dysfunction caused by gland obstruction. The method and apparatus of the invention enable restoration and maintenance of eyelid hygiene and the natural flow of secretions from the meibomian glands. A preferred embodiment of the apparatus comprises an oscillating spongehead affixed to the distal end of the eyelid care appliance that is equipped with a video camera, near field communications link, and a display, thereby enabling a user to “fly” the spongehead onto an eyelid margin for self-administered cleaning of the user'"'"'s eyelid margins. The spongehead can be impregnated with topical pharmacologic or cleansing agents to better facilitate cleaning and therapeutic efficacy.
113 Citations
11 Claims
- 1. An eyelid care appliance comprising a power supply, motor, drive system that transmits motive force from the motor to oscillate a head receiver, motor controls, a proximity system, and proximity annunciator contained in a housing, wherein a spongehead is detachably mated with the head receiver and protrudes from the housing and oscillates when the motor is powered on.
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2. An eyelid care appliance comprising a power supply, motor, drive system that transmits motive force from the motor to oscillate a head receiver, motor controls, a proximity system, and proximity annunciator contained in a housing, wherein a spongehead is detachably mated with the head receiver and protrudes from the housing and oscillates when the motor is powered on, wherein the proximity system is a video camera with lens mounted near the spongehead and in near field communication with a smart device, and wherein the video output from the video camera is displayed on the smart device.
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3. An eyelid care appliance comprising handpiece and a detachable neck, a power supply, motor, proximity annunciator, and motor control being contained in the handpiece, a head receiver being contained in the detachable neck and connected to the motor through a drive system with portions of the drive system distributed in the detachable neck and in the handpiece and with a coupler at the interface of the handpiece and detachable neck, which drive system transmits motive force from the motor to oscillate the head receiver, wherein a spongehead is detachably mated with the head receiver, protrudes from the detachable neck, and oscillates when the motor is powered on, and portions of a proximity system are distributed in the detachable neck and in the housing.
Specification