Real time monitoring of cosmetic laser aesthetic skin treatment procedures
A cosmetic method of treating skin tissue with a source of treatment light includes providing a source of treatment light along an optical axis; providing one or more sources of illumination light along the optical axis; providing one or more sensors along the optical axis; providing a programmable controller, the programmable controller controlling the activation of the source of illumination light and the source of treatment light. The method includes the steps of: the controller activating the one or more sources of illumination light and directing it to the skin tissue, the one or more sensors measuring the light reflected from the skin tissue and transmitting information sensed of measured light to the programmable controller; the programmable controller processing the measured light received from the output of the one or more sensors and providing a treatment light regimen; the programmable controller activating the source of treatment light according to the treatment regimen to the skin tissue; and, treating the skin tissue.
1 . A cosmetic method of treating skin tissue with a source of treatment light comprising:
providing a handpiece comprising:
a source of treatment light that provides, when activated, a light path for treatment light to impinge upon the skin tissue along an optical axis;
the optical axis being defined by a propagation path of the treatment light after activation of the source of treatment light;
one or more sources of illumination light that provide, when activated, illumination light towards the skin tissue to generate an illumination light path along the optical axis, wherein the one or more sources of illumination light direct the illumination light from the one or more sources of illumination light to impinge on the skin tissue along the optical axis, the one or more sources of illumination light comprising one or more illumination LED light sources;
one or more sensors positioned along a second optical axis parallel to the optical axis and configured to measure, when activated, illumination light reflected from the skin tissue resulting from the illumination light, along or the illumination light path;
providing a programmable controller;
activating, by the programmable controller, the one or more of the illumination LED light sources, the one or more illumination LED light sources directing the illumination light to the skin tissue along the optical axis, the illumination light from the one or more illumination LED light sources being reflected from the skin tissue along the optical axis and then to the second optical axis to the one or more sensors;
enabling, by the programmable controller, the one or more sensors to measure the illumination light reflected from the skin tissue;
receiving, by the programmable controller, information sensed of measured reflected illumination light from an output of the one or more sensors;
processing, by the programmable controller, the information sensed of measured reflected illumination light to determine conditions of the skin tissue;
determining, by the programmable controller, a treatment light regimen based on the determined conditions of the skin tissue; and
activating, by the programmable controller, the source of treatment light according to the treatment light regimen to provide treatment light along the treatment light path to impinge the skin tissue and treat the skin tissue according to the treatment light regimen.
2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of providing light directing elements to direct both the source of treatment light and the one or more illumination LED light sources along or parallel to the optical axis.
3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of selecting, by the programmable controller, one or more wavelengths from the one or more illumination LED light sources having different wavelengths and activating the one or more illumination LED light sources to illuminate the skin tissue at the one or more wavelengths.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the treatment light source is selected from one or more of: a fiber laser source, a solid-state laser source, an Intense Pulse Light (IPL) light source, and a LED light source.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the skin tissue is treated for one or more categories of: pigmented lesions, vascular removal, tattoo removal, and hair removal.
6 . The method of claim 5 , further comprising the step of selectively activating, by the programmable controller, one or more of the one or more illumination LED light sources dependent upon a category of skin tissue treatment.
7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of activating, by the programmable controller, one or more of the one or more illumination LED light sources dependent on the desired depth of light penetration into the skin tissue.
8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of:
reactivating, by the programmable controller, after the step of treating the skin tissue, the one or more illumination LED light sources to produce illumination light directed to the skin tissue;
reenabling, by the programmable controller, the one or more sensors to measure the illumination light reflected from the skin tissue;
receiving, by the programmable controller, from the output of the one or more sensors, second information sensed of the measured reflected light;
processing, by the programmable controller, the second information sensed to determine second conditions of the skin tissue after treating the skin tissue; and
generating, by the programmable controller, a second treatment light regimen based on the second conditions of the skin tissue.
9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of the programmable controller processing the measured light received from the output of the one or more sensors and providing a treatment light regimen includes the step of analyzing, by the programmable controller, the measured light received and matching it to memory information contained in a lookup table in a memory associated with the programmable controller, and selecting the treatment light regimen based on a match in the lookup table.
10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of the programmable controller processing the measured light received from the output of the one or more sensors and providing a treatment light regimen includes the step of the programmable controller being configured to analyze the measured light received and match it to information contained in a memory associated with the programmable controller, and selecting the treatment light regimen based on a match.
11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of the programmable controller processing the measured light received from the output of the one or more sensors and providing a treatment light regimen includes the step, by the programmable controller, of matching the measured light received to memory information using artificial intelligence methods and deep learning contained in a memory associated with the programmable controller, and selecting the treatment light regimen based on a match.
12 . Apparatus for treating skin tissue with a source of treatment light comprising:
a handpiece comprising:
a source of treatment light that provides, when activated, a light path for treatment light to impinge upon the skin tissue along an optical axis;
the optical axis being defined by a propagation path of the treatment light after activation of the source of treatment light;
one or more sources of illumination light that provide, when activated, illumination light towards the skin tissue to generate an illumination light path along the optical axis, wherein the one or more sources of illumination light direct the illumination light from the one or more sources of illumination light to impinge on the skin tissue along the optical axis, the one or more sources of illumination light comprising one or more illumination LED light sources;
one or more sensors positioned along a second optical axis parallel to the optical axis and configured to measure, when activated, illumination light reflected from the skin tissue resulting from the illumination light along the illumination light path;
a programmable controller, the programmable controller, configured to:
activate the one or more of the LED illumination light sources to direct the illumination light to the skin tissue, the illumination light from the one or more illumination LED light sources being reflected from the skin tissue along the optical axis and then to the second optical axis to the one or more sensors;
enable the one or more sensors to measure the illumination light reflected from the skin tissue;
receive information sensed of measured reflected illumination light from an output of the one or more sensors;
process the information sensed of measured reflected illumination light received to determine conditions of the skin tissue;
determine, a treatment light regimen based on the determined conditions of the skin tissue; and
activate the source of treatment light according to the treatment light regimen to provide treatment light along the treatment light path to impinge the skin tissue and treat the skin tissue according to the treatment light regimen.
13 . The apparatus of claim 12 , further comprising light directing elements to direct both the source of treatment light and the one or more illumination LED light sources along or parallel to the optical axis.
14 . The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the programmable controller is configured to select one or more wavelengths from the one or more illumination LED light sources having different wavelengths and activate the one or more illumination LED light sources to illuminate the skin tissue.
15 . The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the treatment light source is selected from one or more of: a fiber laser source, a solid-state laser source, an Intense Pulse Light (IPL) light source, and a LED light source.
16 . The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the skin tissue is treated for one or more categories of: pigmented lesions, vascular removal, tattoo removal, and hair removal.
17 . The apparatus of claim 16 , further comprising the programmable controller being configured to selectively activate one or more of the one or more illumination LED light sources dependent upon a category of skin tissue treatment.
18 . The apparatus of claim 12 , further comprising the programmable controller being configured to activate one or more of the one or more illumination LED light sources dependent on the desired depth of penetration into the skin tissue.
19 . The apparatus of claim 12 , further comprising the programmable controller being configured to:
reactivate, after the step of treating the skin tissue, the one or more illumination LED light sources to produce illumination light directed to the skin tissue;
reenable, the one or more sensors to measure the illumination light reflected from the skin tissue;
receive, from the output of the one or more sensors, second information sensed of the measured reflected light;
process the second information sensed to determine second conditions of the skin tissue after treating the skin tissue; and
generate a second treatment light regimen based on the second conditions of the skin tissue.
20 . The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the programmable controller is configured to process the measured light received from the output of the one or more sensors and provide a treatment light regimen by analyzing the measured light received and matching it to memory information contained in a lookup table in a memory associated with the programmable controller, and selecting the treatment light regimen based on a match in the lookup table.
21 . The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the programmable controller is configured to process and analyze the measured light received from the output of the one or more sensors by matching the measured light received to memory information contained in a memory associated with the programmable controller and selecting the treatment light regimen based on a match.
22 . The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the programmable controller is configured to process the measured light received from the output of the one or more sensors and provide a treatment light regimen by matching the measured light received to memory information using artificial intelligence methods and deep learning contained in a memory associated with the programmable controller, and selecting the treatment light regimen based on a match.