The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 27, 1997
Filed:
Jan. 20, 1995
James M Zavislan, Pittsford, NY (US);
Steven H Tomson, deceased, late of Cape Elizabeth, ME (US);
Lucid Technologies, Inc., Henrietta, NY (US);
Abstract
In order to permanently remove hair growing in subcutaneous (below the skin's surface) tissue and to do so permanently, the hair and its root structure is epilated (vaporized) in an ablation cavity of essentially the same size and shape as the volume occupied by the root structure which includes follicle, the follicle bulb and the dermal papilla. Optical energy is used which is of a wavelength and fluence sufficient to cause epilation in the cavity without relying upon selective photothermolysis thereby limiting damage to tissue outside of the hair root structure. To find and restrict the optical energy to the epilation cavity, an optical system, which may be constituted of a single lens, having a numerical aperture of F/5-5.8 is used. The beam is generated by a laser which may be operated in a pulse mode and contained in a hand piece having the optical system at the end thereof. In order to facilitate epilation, a medium such as a cold compress or a freezing agent, may be applied before application of the laser energy in order to cause the root structure and the hair to move to a location generally perpendicular to the surface of the skin. During application of the laser energy, the root structure and the hair, if present, is progressively ablated and vaporized until the bottom of the hair bulb is reached at which time the beam is turned off. Because of the shaping effect of the optical system, the beam is diffused so as to have insufficient fluence to damage the tissue below the bottom of the hair follicle bulb.