Heads for dermatology treatment

• US 8,109,924 B2
• Filed: 03/24/2011
• Issued: 02/07/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/15/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Palomar Medical Technologies Incorporated (Hologic Incorporated), The General Hospital Corporation (Mass General Brigham, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Palomar Medical Technologies Incorporated (Hologic Incorporated), The General Hospital Corporation (Mass General Brigham, Inc.)
• Inventors: Altshuler, Gregory B., Anderson, R. Rox
• Primary Examiner(s): GIBSON, ROY DEAN
• Application Number:
  US13/071,075
• Publication Number:
  US 20110172651A1
• Time in Patent Office: 320 Days
• Field of Search: 606/2, 606/9
• US Class Current: 606/9
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 18/203 applying laser energy to the outside of the body
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2018/00005 Cooling or heating of the probe or tissue immediately surrounding the probe
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2018/00041 Heating, e.g. defrosting
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2018/00458 Deeper parts of the skin, e.g. treatment of vascular disorders or port wine stains
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2018/00476 Hair follicles
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/065 for measuring contact or contact pressure
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 5/0617 Hair treatment

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for dermatology treatment are provided which involve the use of continuous wave (CW) radiation, preheating of the treatment volume, precooling, cooling during treatment and post-treatment cooling of the epidermis above the treatment volume, various beam focusing techniques to reduce scattering and/or other techniques for reducing the cost and/or increasing the efficacy of optical radiation for use in hair removal and other dermatological treatments. A number of embodiments are included for achieving the various objectives indicated above.

Claims

1. A photocosmetic device comprising:

a head adapted for applying radiation to skin, the head comprising an output aperture and a scanner configured to scan radiation over the output aperture as the head is moved over the skin,

a motion sensor coupled to the head and adapted to generate one or more signals indicative of a rate of movement of the head as it is moved over the skin, and

controls coupled to the head for receiving said one or more signals and for controlling the rate of scanning in response to said one or more signals.

2. The photocosmetic device of claim 1, wherein the device further comprises an alert mechanism configured to provide an alert to an operator regarding the rate of head movement over the skin.

3. The photocosmetic device of claim 2, wherein the alert mechanism is further configured to alert the operator of said device if the determined rate of movement is outside of a particular range of rates.

4. The photocosmetic device of claim 3, wherein the alert mechanism comprises at least one of an audio output device, a visual output device, and a tactile output device.

5. The photocosmetic device of claim 1, wherein the motion sensor further comprises a mechanism configured to determine the rate of movement of the head over the skin.

6. The photocosmetic device of claim 5, wherein the mechanism is further configured to determine if the head is moving at a rate within a predetermined range of rates, and to provide a further signal to the controls based on said determination of the rate of movement.

7. The photocosmetic device of claim 1, wherein the controls adjust the output of the device if the rate is outside a predetermined range of rates.

8. The photocosmetic device of claim 1, wherein the controls are configured to terminate application of the radiation if the rate is outside a predetermined range of rates.

9. The photocosmetic device of claim 1, wherein the motion sensor is selected from the group of a kinematic motion sensor, an optical motion sensor, an electrical motion sensor, a thermal motion sensor, and a magnetic motion sensor.

10. The photocosmetic device of claim 1, wherein the head is configured to apply continuous wave radiation.

11. The photocosmetic device of claim 1, wherein the scanner comprises an oscillated deflector.

12. The photocosmetic device of claim 1, wherein the head comprises a skin contacting surface and the scanner scans radiation over the skin contacting surface.