RADIATION-BASED DERMATOLOGICAL DEVICES AND METHODS
A self-contained, hand-held device for providing fractional treatment to the skin includes a device body configured to be handheld by a user; a radiation source supported in the device body, the radiation source including a single beam source configured to emit a single energy beam; an application end configured to be manually moved across the skin during a treatment session; and electronics configured to pulse the single beam source to emit a sequence of pulsed energy beams to the skin while the application end is manually moved across the skin, thereby generating 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. Each pulsed energy beam emitted by the beam source has the same, fixed propagation path with respect to the device body.
1 . A self-contained, hand-held device for providing fractional treatment to the skin, 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 single beam source configured to emit a single energy beam;
an application end configured to be manually moved across the skin during a treatment session;
electronics configured to pulse the single beam source to emit a sequence of pulsed energy beams to the skin while the application end is manually moved across the skin, thereby generating 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;
wherein each pulsed energy beam emitted by the beam source has the same, fixed propagation path with respect to the device body.
2 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the device includes no optics.
3 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the single beam source is arranged in a fixed manner with respect to the device body such that the single beam source is does not move with respect to the device body.
4 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the single beam source is controlled to emit pulsed energy beams at a pulse repetition frequency of between 1 and 50 Hz.
5 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the single beam source is controlled to emit pulsed energy beams at a pulse repetition frequency of between 10 and 25 Hz.
6 . The device of claim 1 , further comprising a displacement control system including:
a displacement sensor configured to determine a displacement of the device relative to the skin; and
electronics configured to control at least one operational parameter of the radiation source based on the determined displacement of the device relative to the skin.
7 . The device of claim 1 , further comprising:
at least one contact sensor configured to generate signals for determining whether the application end of the device is in contact with the skin; and
controls configured to control at least one operational parameter of the radiation source based on signals from the at least one contact sensor.
8 . The device of claim 1 , wherein:
the single beam source has an emitter surface; and
the emitter surface of the single beam source is arranged such that when the application end is in contact with the skin, the emitter surface source is spaced from the skin surface by less than 10 mm.
9 . The device of claim 1 , wherein:
the single beam source has an emitter surface; and
the emitter surface of the single beam source is arranged such that when the application end is in contact with the skin, the emitter surface source is spaced from the skin surface by less than 1 mm.
10 . The device of claim 1 , wherein each energy beam emitted by the pulsed beam source is divergent in at least one direction upon incidence with the skin surface.
11 . The device of claim 1 , wherein individual treatment spots have an area of less than 1 mm 2 .
12 . The device of claim 1 , wherein individual treatment spots have an area of less than 0.4 mm 2 .
13 . The device of claim 1 , wherein individual treatment spots have an area of less than 0.1 mm 2 .
14 . The device of claim 1 , wherein individual treatment spots have an area of less than 0.05 mm 2 .
15 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the radiation source comprises a solid-state laser.
16 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the radiation source comprises an single emitter laser diode.
17 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the radiation source comprises a mutli-emitter laser diode configured to generate a single collective beam, the mutli-emitter laser diode comprising a monolithic laser diode structure having multiple emitter junctions formed on a substrate and configured to emit multiple micro-beams that combine to collectively form the single collective beam.
18 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the radiation source comprises a multiple quantum well (MQW) laser diode configure to emit a single collective beam.
19 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the radiation source comprises a high fill-factor laser diode bar configure to emit a single collective beam.
20 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the radiation source comprises a VCSEL laser.
21 . The device of claim 1 , wherein:
the radiation source comprises a laser configured to emit a laser beam; and
the laser beam emitted from the application end of the device meets the Class 1M or better eye safety classification per the IEC 60825-1.
22 . A self-contained, hand-held device for providing fractional treatment to the skin, 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 single beam source configured to emit a single energy beam;
an application end configured to be manually moved across the skin during a treatment session;
electronics configured to pulse the single beam source to emit a sequence of pulsed energy beams to the skin while the application end is manually moved across the skin, thereby generating 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;
wherein the device includes no optics that move with respect to the device body.
23 . The device of claim 22 , wherein the device includes no optics.
24 . The device of claim 22 , wherein the single beam source is arranged in a fixed manner with respect to the device body such that the single beam source is does not move with respect to the device body.
25 . A self-contained, hand-held device for providing fractional treatment to the skin, 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 single beam source configured to emit a single energy beam;
an application end configured to be manually moved across the skin during a treatment session;
electronics configured to pulse the single beam source to emit a sequence of pulsed energy beams to the skin while the application end is manually moved across the skin, thereby generating 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;
wherein the device is configured such that if the device is held stationary on the skin during operation of the radiation source, all pulsed energy beams emitted by the single beam source irradiate the same area on the skin.
26 . The device of claim 25 , wherein in the absence of movement of the application end of the device relative to the tip, the device provides no spatial separation or relative movement of consecutive treatment spots.
27 . A self-contained, hand-held device for providing fractional treatment to the skin, 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 single beam source configured to emit a single energy beam;
an application end configured to be manually moved across the skin during a treatment session;
electronics configured to pulse the single beam source to emit a sequence of pulsed energy beams to the skin while the application end is manually moved across the skin, thereby generating 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;
wherein the single beam source has an emitter surface; and
wherein the emitter surface of the single beam source is arranged such that when the application end is in contact with the skin, the emitter surface source is spaced from the skin surface by less than 10 mm.
28 . The device of claim 27 , wherein the emitter surface of the single beam source is arranged such that when the application end is in contact with the skin, the emitter surface source is spaced from the skin surface by less than 5 mm.
29 . The device of claim 27 , wherein the emitter surface of the single beam source is arranged such that when the application end is in contact with the skin, the emitter surface source is spaced from the skin surface by less than 2 mm.
30 . The device of claim 27 , wherein the emitter surface of the single beam source is arranged such that when the application end is in contact with the skin, the emitter surface source is spaced from the skin surface by less than 1 mm.
31 . The device of 27 , wherein the emitter surface of the single beam source is arranged such that when the application end is in contact with the skin, the emitter surface source is spaced from the skin surface by less than 0.5 mm.
32 . A self-contained, hand-held device for providing fractional treatment to the skin, 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 single beam source configured to emit a single energy beam;
an application end configured to be manually moved across the skin during a treatment session;
electronics configured to pulse the single beam source to emit a sequence of pulsed energy beams to the skin while the application end is manually moved across the skin, thereby generating 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 determine a displacement of the device relative to the skin; and
electronics configured to control at least one operational parameter of the radiation source based on the determined displacement of the device relative to the skin.