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US-12622749-B2 - Hand piece with information projection and image processing

US12622749B2US 12622749 B2US12622749 B2US 12622749B2US-12622749-B2

Abstract

A hand piece for dermal therapy is provided that includes a projector configured to project digital information onto the skin of the patient. A clinician may thus monitor the digital information to confirm that the proper therapy parameters are being used or to adjust the dermal therapy based upon the therapy parameters including in the digital information. In addition, the hand piece includes a camera so that image processing may be used to identify features such as a lesion within a treatment area on the skin of the patient. Based on this image processing, the projector may then selectively illuminate the lesion.

Inventors

  • James Bartholomeusz

Assignees

  • LUTRONIC CORPORATION

Dates

Publication Date
20260512
Application Date
20230215

Claims (12)

  1. 1 . An RF-excited microneedle system for dermal therapy, comprising: a hand piece including a housing enclosing a plurality of microneedles that may be actuated through holes in the housing; and a projector extending from an exterior of the housing, the projector being configured to project digital information regarding parameters of the dermal therapy onto a skin of a patient.
  2. 2 . The RF-excited microneedle system of claim 1 , wherein the projector comprises a pico projector.
  3. 3 . The RF-excited microneedle system of claim 1 , further comprising: a user interface for controlling a selection of the digital information.
  4. 4 . The RF-excited microneedle system of claim 1 , wherein the parameters of the dermal therapy include a pulse on-time of the RF energy for the RF-excited microneedle system.
  5. 5 . The RF-excited microneedle system of claim 1 , wherein the parameters of the dermal therapy include a temperature of the skin of the patient.
  6. 6 . The RF-excited microneedle system of claim 1 , wherein the parameters of the dermal therapy include a mode status of whether the RF-excited microneedle system is in a setup mode or in an active mode.
  7. 7 . The RF-excited microneedle system of claim 1 , wherein the parameters of the dermal therapy include a power of the RF energy for the RF-excited microneedle system.
  8. 8 . A method of treating a patient with a hand piece, comprising: positioning the hand piece adjacent to a skin of the patient; and projecting digital information regarding parameters of a dermal therapy administered by the hand piece, wherein the projecting of the digital information is produced from a projector on the hand piece onto the skin of the patient during the dermal therapy.
  9. 9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the dermal therapy comprises projecting a laser beam from the hand piece onto the skin of the patient.
  10. 10 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the dermal therapy comprises inserting a plurality of microneedles from the hand piece into the skin of the patient and exciting the inserted microneedles with RF energy.
  11. 11 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising: imaging a treatment portion of the skin of the patient to provide an image; processing the image to identify a lesion within the treatment portion; and illuminating the lesion through the projector responsive to the processing of the image.
  12. 12 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising: limiting an illumination of the lesion through the projector to exclude ablated portions of the lesion.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD This application relates to hand pieces for dermal therapy, and more particularly to a hand piece for dermal therapy with information projection onto the skin of a patient. BACKGROUND A variety of dermal treatments involve the use of a hand piece such as hair removal, acne treatment, removal of pigmented lesions or melasma, tattoo removal, and skin tightening. Depending upon the application, the hand piece may be dedicated to the use of RF-excited microneedles or laser therapy. Regardless of the modality and the dermal condition being treated, there is generally a tension between sufficient treatment from the hand piece and insufficient treatment (or excessive treatment). For example, to provide the benefits of a laser peel but with reduced risks, fractional dermal injury (which may also be denoted as fractional laser skin resurfacing) was developed. As implied by the “fractional” designation, a fractional dermal injury does not ablate the entire epidermis of a treatment area. Instead, a pulsed laser as applied by the hand piece forms injured or ablated columns of skin that are separated by healthy tissue. Radio Frequency (RF) excited microneedles produce a similar fractional dermal injury. As compared to a fractional laser treatment, each microneedle may be insulated such that tissue injury or ablation occurs only around the tip of the microneedle after the microneedle has been inserted into the dermis. Whereas laser fractional therapy tends to produce injured or ablated columns of tissue that extend from the skin surface, RF-excited microneedle therapy tends to produce subdermal injured or ablated regions. But regardless of the type of fractional injury, the presence of healthy, undamaged skin about each injury speeds healing and reduces the risk of infection. Fractional injury thus involves a balancing act between producing sufficient fractional injury and maintaining sufficient amounts of undamaged tissue. Hand piece treatment to remove hair or tattoos faces a similar balancing act between sufficient and insufficient (or excessive) therapy. There are various factors that affect the balance between sufficient dermal therapy from a hand piece vs. insufficient or excessive therapy. Some important factors may include the skin temperature, the ablation power, the frequency of excitation, and fluence. But a clinician must guide the hand piece so as to treat to the desired areas. The controls or user interface for the treatment factors or variables are contained on a console that attaches to the hand piece through a flexible coupling. But the clinician's attention is directed to the guiding of the hand piece as opposed to monitoring the console. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for improved information availability to the clinician during hand-piece-aided therapy. SUMMARY In accordance with an aspect of the disclosure, a laser system for dermal therapy is provided that includes: a laser hand piece including a housing; and a projector extending from an exterior of the housing, the projector being configured to project digital information regarding the dermal therapy onto a skin of a patient. In accordance with another aspect of the disclosure, an RF-excited microneedle system for dermal therapy is provided that includes: a hand piece including a housing enclosing a plurality of microneedles; and a projector extending from an exterior of the housing, the projector being configured to project digital information regarding the dermal therapy onto a skin of a patient. In accordance with yet another aspect of the disclosure, a method of treating a patient with a hand piece is provided that includes: positioning the hand piece adjacent to a skin of the patient; and projecting digital information from a projector on the hand piece onto the skin of the patient while treating the skin of the patient with the hand piece. These and other advantageous features may be better appreciated through the following detailed description. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 illustrates a laser system including a hand piece including a projector for projecting digital information onto the skin of a patient in accordance with an aspect of the disclosure. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the hand piece of FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an RF-excited microneedle hand piece including a projector for projecting digital information onto the skin of a patient in accordance with an aspect of the disclosure. Embodiments of the present disclosure and their advantages are best understood by referring to the detailed description that follows. It should be appreciated that like reference numerals are used to identify like elements illustrated in one or more of the figures. DETAILED DESCRIPTION A variety of dermal treatments involve the use of a hand piece such hair removal, acne treatment, removal of pigmented lesions or melasma, removal of vascular lesions, and tattoo removal. As noted earlier, there is a tens