JP2000334052A - Probe for laser irradiation - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable even irradiation of laser light over a wide range of skin in a short time by enhanced irradiation efficiency. SOLUTION: The probe incorporates an electric power means and a controlling means to control the irradiation time by a timer. A head part 3 is projectingly formed in front of a case 2, underneath of which is provided with an LED lamp 4 and a push switch 5. The head part 3 has an open end where a spherical lens 6 is fitted. A cylinder 7 is projectingly formed in front where a cylindrical lens 8 is fitted with its cylindrical face inside. The rear parts of the right and left spherical lenses 6 are provided with heat sinks inscribing the front edge of the head part 3. The center of the axis is perforated to give hole a in which laser diodes 10 are fitted.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a laser beam irradiating probe for irradiating a skin with a laser beam to perform treatments such as beautiful skin, hair removal, and hair growth.

[0002]

The semiconductor laser diode has a very small cross-sectional area of several μm to several tens μm of a light emitting portion. Instead, it spreads significantly at an angle of 30 ° to 45 °. Therefore, the light is condensed by a lens in order to concentrate the power density, but the beam diameter near the focal point is considerably reduced to 1 to 2 mm. For this reason, evenly irradiating the laser beam over a wide area of the skin requires a very long time because the beam diameter is small, which is a troublesome operation.

[0003] On the other hand, the beam diameter of the laser beam can be enlarged by combining a concave / convex lens or a prism, or by using a beam expander such as a cylindrical lens.
In particular, a cylindrical lens is a semi-cylindrical lens of a semi-cylindrical shape. As shown in FIG. 4, when a laser beam is applied to a cylindrical surface, a point-like beam spot is stretched in the width direction and a linear beam is formed on the condensing surface. Form spots.

Accordingly, the present invention uses the cylindrical lens to linearly extend the beam diameter of the laser beam, thereby increasing the irradiation efficiency and enabling the laser beam to be uniformly irradiated over a wide area of the skin in a short time. It was done for the purpose.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is configured as follows.

That is, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a semiconductor laser diode for irradiating a laser beam to the skin surface and a beam expander for extending a light point to a line in front of the light emitting surface are provided at the tip of the probe. And a laser beam irradiation probe formed by forming a linear beam spot on the skin surface. The invention according to claim 2 is the laser beam irradiation probe according to claim 1, wherein the beam expander is a cylindrical lens. The invention according to claim 3 is the laser beam irradiation probe according to claim 1, wherein an adjuster for keeping a constant distance from the skin surface is provided in front of the beam expander. According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the laser beam irradiation probe according to the third aspect, wherein a position of a tip portion of the adjuster is freely movable toward and away from the beam expander. The invention according to claim 5 is the laser light irradiation probe according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the adjuster is at least two thin rods. The invention according to claim 6 is the laser beam irradiation probe according to claim 1, wherein a condenser lens is provided between the semiconductor laser diode and the beam expander. Claim 7
The invention of claim 6 is the laser beam irradiation probe according to claim 6, wherein the condenser lens is a spherical lens. The invention according to claim 8 is the laser beam irradiation probe according to claim 1, wherein a mirror surface is formed inside the cylindrical surface of the cylindrical lens.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIGS. 1 to 3 show a front view, a cross sectional view and a partially cutaway side view of a laser beam irradiation probe embodying the present invention. The laser light irradiation probe 1 has a built-in control circuit and a power supply (not shown) for controlling the irradiation time of the laser light by a timer. The switch 5 is arranged.

The push switch 5 operates one switch to turn on / off the power and set the irradiation time. That is, when the push switch 5 is first pressed, the power is turned on, and the irradiation time is set to 1 second. At this time, the LED lamp 4 lights up in green. Next, when the push switch 5 is pressed, an irradiation time of 2 seconds is set, and the LED lamp 4 blinks green.
When the push switch 5 is further pressed, the irradiation time is 3 to 6
Seconds are sequentially set, and the LED lamp 4 switches between orange lighting, orange flashing, red lighting, and red flashing according to the set number of seconds.
Finally, when the push switch 5 is pressed, the power is turned off. In setting the irradiation time, a very short count value of 1 to 6 seconds is set in the timer in this way so as not to cause transient damage to the skin.

The head 3 has a spherical lens 6 with an open end.
, And a cylindrical body 7 is protrudingly provided in front of the cylindrical lens 8, and the cylindrical lens 8 is inserted with its cylindrical surface inside. Behind the spherical lens 6, a heat sink 9 inscribed at the tip of the head portion 3 is installed, and a laser diode 10 is inserted through a through hole a in the axis thereof.

The cylindrical lens 8 has a mirror surface formed by depositing (coating) a thin film of a metal such as aluminum or a dielectric material on the cylindrical surface other than the irradiation spot. As a result, the laser light is specularly reflected and diffused at a high density, so that the laser light uniformly acts on a wide area of the skin.

Since the spherical lens 6 has a shorter focal length than an ordinary lens, the light power can be narrowed down to a small and narrow range. Conversely, from the position beyond the focal point, the light beam spreads at the same angle, and the light power is dispersed over a wide range. For this reason, at a position beyond the focal point, the energy density is reduced and the optical power is reduced, so that there is less danger of damaging the living body even if it is erroneously irradiated.

On both right and left sides of the head 3, a skin contact bar b of a U-shaped adjuster 11 is projected. The bent portion c of the adjuster 11 is held in the case 2 and a connection hole d is formed at the center, and the tip of the screw 12 is inserted into the connection hole d. The screw 12 is formed by screwing a screw hole e on the back surface of the case 2 and screwing it into the connecting hole d with two stoppers f provided at the tip.
Between the two sides.

The adjuster 11 serves as a spacer, and keeps the distance between the cylindrical lens 8 and the tip of the skin contact bar b in contact with the skin constant. And screw 12
The knob g provided at the base is turned so that the skin contact bar b of the adjuster 11 is put in and out, and the distance between the cylindrical lens 8 and the skin surface is freely adjusted. As a result, the beam width of the laser light expanded by the cylindrical lens 8 is adjusted to an appropriate length.

The heat sink 9 includes a laser diode 10
The heat generated at the time of operation is diffused by heat conduction to suppress a decrease in performance. For this reason, aluminum or an alloy thereof having good heat conduction efficiency is cast, and several dummy through holes are provided to enhance the heat radiation efficiency.

The laser diode 10 is excited by applying a current directly to a PN junction diode using a compound semiconductor such as GaAs (gallium arsenide) and has a peak wavelength of 6 nm.
A laser beam having a light output of 00 to 1600 nm and a light output of 5 mW to 3 W is output to cause a sufficient photothermal reaction on the skin. In addition to the thermal reaction, it causes a photoelectric reaction, a photomagnetic reaction, a photodynamic reaction, a photochemical reaction, a photoimmune reaction, a photoenzymatic reaction, and the like. It has no effect of damaging living tissue at an appropriate power density and there is no danger of causing skin damage.

The laser light irradiation probe according to the present invention has the above-described configuration. When performing a treatment, first, the push switch 5 is pressed to turn on the power. As a result, the laser diode 10 is turned on for a predetermined one second, and then pauses for one second. Thereafter, the irradiation and the pause are repeated. When changing the irradiation time, a desired irradiation time is set in a range of 1 to 6 seconds while pressing the push switch 5. When the laser diode 10 is turned on, the skin contact bar b of the adjuster 11 is pressed against the skin surface to form a linear beam spot on the skin surface. Then, the probe is moved in the direction orthogonal to the linear beam spot to scan and irradiate the laser light over a wide area of the skin surface.

[0018]

As described above, the laser beam irradiation probe of the present invention has a semiconductor laser diode for irradiating a laser beam to the skin surface and a beam expander for extending a light point to a line in front of the light emitting surface. To form a linear beam spot on the skin surface. Therefore, according to the present invention, since the irradiation area of the laser beam expands in the horizontal direction to perform line irradiation,
By simply moving the probe in the vertical direction, a wide area of the skin surface can be illuminated at once, and the irradiation efficiency is greatly improved as compared with the conventional point irradiation.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a laser beam irradiation probe embodying the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a side view in which a part of FIG. 1 is cut away.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating light collection by a cylindrical lens.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Laser beam irradiation probe 2 Case 3 Head part 4 LED lamp 5 Push switch 6 Ball lens 7 Cylindrical lens 8 Cylindrical lens 9 Heat sink 10 Laser diode 11 Adjuster 12 Screw a Through hole b Skin pad c Bend d Connection hole e Screw hole f Retaining g knob

Continued on the front page F term (reference) 4C026 AA01 AA02 BB08 FF03 FF22 FF23 FF33 FF34 HH02 HH16 HH22 4C082 RA01 RC09 RE03 RE22 RE23 RE34 RE35 RL02 RL16 RL22

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A semiconductor laser diode for irradiating a laser beam to a skin surface and a beam expander for extending a point of light into a line in front of a light emitting surface are provided at a tip of a probe, and a linear beam is formed on the skin surface. A laser beam irradiation probe that forms a beam spot. 2. The laser beam irradiation probe according to claim 1, wherein the beam expander is a cylindrical lens. 3. The laser beam irradiation probe according to claim 1, further comprising an adjuster for maintaining a constant distance from the skin surface in front of the beam expander. 4. The laser beam irradiation probe according to claim 3, wherein a position of a tip portion of the adjuster is freely movable toward and away from a beam expander. 5. The laser beam irradiation probe according to claim 3, wherein the adjuster is at least two thin rods. 6. A condenser lens is provided between the semiconductor laser diode and the beam expander.
The laser light irradiation probe as described in the above. 7. The laser beam irradiation probe according to claim 6, wherein the condenser lens is a spherical lens. 8. The laser beam irradiation probe according to claim 1, wherein a mirror surface is formed inside the cylindrical surface of the cylindrical lens.