JP2001218857A - Laser therapeutic device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a laser therapeutic device capable of properly cooling the skin according to the size of a laser radiation region. SOLUTION: This laser therapeutic device irradiating a laser beam to the skin from a therapeutic laser beam source is provided with a hand piece section having a radiation optical system for irradiating the laser beam to a desired position, a beam guiding optical system guiding the laser beam from the laser beam source to the hand piece section, a heat exchanger provided on the hand piece section, a window unit provided with a window having a contact face made of a heat-conductive material transmitting the laser beam and visible light and kept in contact with the skin and a heat conducting section transferring the cooled temperature of the heat exchanger to the window, and a fitting means removably fitting the window unit to the hand piece section. The window unit provided with the window having the contact face different in size is replaceably fitted to the hand piece section.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a laser treatment apparatus for performing a laser treatment by irradiating an affected part with a treatment laser beam.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Laser devices used in dermatology, for example,
In a laser apparatus for hair removal, a handpiece is used for irradiating laser light, and some handpieces incorporate a scanning mechanism for scanning the affected part with laser light.

In this type of laser treatment, laser irradiation is performed while cooling the skin at the laser irradiation site in order to suppress heat generation during laser irradiation. As a skin cooling mechanism,
It is known that a window made of a glass plate that transmits laser light and comes into contact with the skin is directly cooled by cooling water.

[0004]

However, the device for the mechanism for directly cooling the window with the cooling water requires a pipe for circulating the cooling water. Therefore, the pipe for cooling water circulation and the window are integrated with the handpiece. Was attached. Therefore, there is a problem that the size of the window cannot be changed in accordance with the size of the affected part or the laser irradiation area.

The present invention has been made in view of the above prior art, and has as its technical object to provide a laser treatment apparatus capable of appropriately cooling skin according to the size of a laser irradiation area.

[0006]

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above problems, the present invention is characterized by having the following configuration.

(1) In a laser treatment apparatus for irradiating a skin with laser light from a treatment laser light source, a handpiece section having an irradiation optical system for irradiating a desired position with the laser light; A light guiding optical system for guiding the laser light to the handpiece portion, a heat exchanger provided in the handpiece portion, and a skin made of a material having thermal conductivity while transmitting the laser light and visible light. A window unit having a window having a contact surface in contact therewith and a heat conducting portion for transmitting a cooling temperature of the heat exchanger to the window, and mounting means for detachably mounting the window unit to the handpiece portion; A window unit provided with windows having contact surfaces of different sizes is attached to the handpiece portion and is replaceable.

(2) In the laser treatment apparatus according to (1), the handpiece section has a heat conducting member cooled by the heat exchanger, and the window unit has a predetermined portion through which laser light from the irradiation optical system passes. Is attached to the heat conducting member by the attaching means so that the window is located at the position of (1).

(3) The laser treatment apparatus according to (1) or (2), wherein the heat exchanger is an electronic heat exchanger.

(4) In the laser treatment apparatus according to any one of (1) to (3), the irradiation optical system has a scanning optical system for scanning a laser beam on the skin in contact with the window.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described with reference to an embodiment and drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic view of the appearance of a laser treatment apparatus used for hair removal treatment and the like, and FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an optical system and a control system.

A large liquid crystal (LCD) panel 2 is provided on the front of the laser device main body 1.
Is a touch panel on which various setting conditions are displayed and various settings can be made by touching operation keys displayed on the LCD panel 2. A communication cable 3 and a fiber cable 4 extend from the upper part of the laser device body 1 to a handpiece 20 for irradiating a laser beam.

Reference numeral 5 denotes a chiller for cooling and circulating cooling water supplied to the handpiece 20 side. The two cooling tubes 7 extending from the chiller 5 are bundled with the communication cable 3 and the fiber cable 4 described above, and are integrated into a centralized cable 8. Reference numeral 9 denotes a foot switch that triggers laser irradiation.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 10 denotes a laser light source for emitting a therapeutic laser beam, and the laser light source 10 has a large number of semiconductor lasers (diode lasers). The laser beams emitted from the respective semiconductor lasers are condensed and incident on the end faces of the respective fibers 13a by the lenses 12a arranged correspondingly. The fibers 13a are bundled on the emission end face side, and the laser lights emitted from the respective semiconductor lasers are collected on the fiber emission side, and are used for treatment as high-output laser light. In this embodiment, near-infrared light having a wavelength of 800 to 820 nm is used as the treatment laser light.

The aiming light emitted from the aiming light source 11 is condensed by a condenser lens 12b and enters a fiber 13b. The exit side end face of the fiber 13b is bundled together with the exit side end face of the fiber 13a, and the aiming light travels on the same optical path as the treatment laser light after exiting the fiber 13b. In the present embodiment, red visible light having a wavelength of 620 to 650 nm is used for the aiming light beam.

The laser light (therapeutic laser light and the aiming light) emitted from the emission end faces (fiber bundle portions) of the bundled fibers 13a and 13b are collected by the condenser lens group 1.
The light is condensed by 4 and enters the fiber cable 4. The fiber cable 4 is connected to the handpiece 20, and the laser light is guided to the handpiece 20.

The scanner head 20a of the handpiece 20
Is provided with a first mirror 23 and a second mirror 24. By driving the first mirror 23 and the second mirror 24 by driving the first galvanometer 23a and the second galvanometer 24a respectively, the first mirror 23 and the second mirror 24 are respectively rotated in the X and Y directions. Then, the irradiation position of the laser beam is moved (oscillated), and the therapeutic laser beam can be scanned over a wide range. The laser light that has entered the scanner head 20a from the fiber cable 4 is bent by the mirror 21 into an optical axis and is converted into a parallel light beam by the collimator lens 22.
4 is swung in the X and Y directions, and the diameter of the condensing lens 25 is 5 m.
The treatment site is irradiated as a circular spot light of about m.

Below the scanner head 20a, window units (large) 4 of different sizes as shown in FIG.
0, a window unit (medium) 50 and a window unit (small) 60 are selectively attached. The window units 40, 50, and 60 have the same basic structure except for the size and shape of the window through which the treatment laser beam passes.

FIG. 3 is a side sectional view of a lower portion of the handpiece 20 when the window unit (large) 40 is attached.

A scanner support 26 made of polyacetal resin having excellent heat insulation is fixed below the scanner head 20a, and a window mounting plate 27 made of aluminum having good heat conductivity is provided on the side of the scanner support 26. It is screwed from the side (the direction perpendicular to the plane of FIG. 3). 28 is a Peltier element which is an electronic heat exchanger. The Peltier element 28 is mounted so as to be sandwiched between a cooling plate 29 made of aluminum and the window mounting plate 27 such that the window mounting plate 27 side is a heat absorbing side (cooling side) and the cooling plate 29 side is a heat radiating side. Current is applied. A flow path through which cooling water circulates is formed inside the cooling plate 29, and the cooling water cooled by the chiller 5 circulates through the cooling plate 29 through the cooling tube 7 and the water distribution pipe 30. Through the Peltier element 28 through the interface.

Reference numeral 31 denotes a temperature sensor mounted on the lower end of the window mounting plate 27. The temperature sensor 31 detects the temperature of the window mounting plate 27, and controls the temperature of the Peltier element 28 by the control unit 15 based on the detected temperature. Is done.

The window unit (large) 40 includes a first window 42 made of transparent sapphire glass having good thermal conductivity in contact with the skin, a window frame 41 having a substantially L-shaped side surface for holding the first window 42, and heat insulation. Frame-shaped heat insulating plate 4 made of polyacetal resin with good properties
3. Transparent glass having a lower thermal conductivity than the first window 42 (for example, B which is generally used as an optical glass)
Second window 44 of K7 (shot company classification code),
It is composed of an aluminum cover 45 having an opening.

The window frame 41 is made of an aluminum material having good thermal conductivity. Two U-shaped long holes 47 are formed in the upper portion of the back plate portion 41a (see FIG. 4), and are detachable from the window mounting plate 27 by two screws 32. At the time of removal, the screw 32 can be easily removed by just loosening it slightly without completely removing it. At the time of mounting, the back plate 41a is lowered so that the two U-shaped long holes 47 are inserted into the two screws 32. Then, if the screw 32 is tightened, the back plate portion 41a can be attached by contacting the window attachment plate 27. By this mounting, the window mounting plate 27 cooled by the Peltier element cools the window frame 41 and further cools the first window.

An opening is provided in the frame portion 41b of the window frame 41 which protrudes in the horizontal direction, and a first window 42 of about 40 mm square is attached to the lower side thereof with an adhesive having good heat conductivity. A second window 44 is fixed to the upper portion of the frame portion 41b via a heat insulating plate 43 so as to be shielded using an adhesive having good heat insulating properties, and a cover 45 covering these is further adhered. In this way, a closed space 48 (a space indicated by a dotted line in FIG. 3) which is a heat insulating layer is formed between the first window 42 and the second window 44, and the heat insulating effect between the two windows having the double structure is obtained. Enhanced. Therefore, even if the first window 42 is cooled, the second window 44 is hardly cooled, and the occurrence of dew condensation on the surface side (upper side) of the second window 44 is suppressed.

The window unit (large) 40
It is preferable to perform the assembling in a place with low humidity and to reduce the moisture contained in the air in the space 48 to be sealed. It is even better if the space 48 is evacuated. Further, it is preferable that an anti-reflection film is provided on each surface of the windows 42 and 44 in order to increase the transmission efficiency of laser light and visible light.

In FIG. 3, reference numeral 46 denotes a heat insulating plate made of polyacetal resin for preventing heat absorption from the outside of the window frame 41, and is fixed to the back plate portion 41a so as to simultaneously insulate the second window 44. .

With the above-described structure, the heat of the first window 42 is transmitted to the window frame 41, the window mounting plate 27, and the Peltier device 28, and the heat is absorbed. By lowering the temperature of the first window 42, the patient's skin can be cooled. Further, since the temperature of the second window 44 is close to room temperature, laser treatment can be performed without dew condensation on the surface.

Also, since the window unit (large) 40 is mounted below the scanner head 20a,
By pressing the first window 42 against the skin, the surgeon can make the treatment area uniformly flat and stably hold the scanner head 20a. The distance from the condenser lens 25 is designed so that the laser light emitted from the scanner head 20a is focused near the lower surface of the first window 42.

Window unit (middle) 50 shown in FIG.
Is a window unit (large) 40 in which the size of the first window (not shown), the second window 54 and the size of the window frame 51 having a double structure are reduced (about 30 mm square). The first window (not shown) and the second window 64 of the window unit (small) 60 are of a circular type having a diameter of about 10 mm, and the window frame 61 is also made small. This window unit (small) 60 is attached to the mounting plate 27.
Is designed so that the center of the first and second windows is below the optical axis of the condenser lens 25 when attached to
The window unit (small) 60 is used mainly when a single spot is formed without scanning with a laser beam. The basic structure of the window units 50 and 60 is the same as that of the window unit (large) 40, and thus the description thereof is omitted.

In FIG. 2, the control unit 15 is connected to the LCD panel 2, a flow switch 6 for checking whether the cooling water from the chiller 5 is normally circulating, a memory 16, and a foot switch 9. In addition, handpiece 20
The temperature sensor 31, the first galvanometer 23a, the second galvanometer 24a, and the Peltier device 28 are connected to the control unit 15 via the communication cable 3.

The operation of the laser treatment apparatus having the above configuration will be described below.

The operator can use the window units 40 and 5 of an appropriate size in accordance with the position and size of the laser irradiation site.
Window mounting plate 2 in which handpiece 20 has 0 and 60
7 For example, when the affected part is large in a flat part, the window unit (large) 40 is used so that a wide range of laser irradiation can be efficiently performed by scanning.
Use When the affected area is relatively small, the window unit (middle) 50 is used to reduce the contact of the window with the skin other than the affected area, and to reduce the burden on the patient by keeping the skin other than the laser irradiation area cool. . Also,
If the shape is not constant in the face, armpits, lower abdomen, etc.,
When the window unit (medium) 50 or the window unit (small) 60 is used instead of the window unit (large) 40, the operability is improved, and it is easy to cope with a small affected part. A window unit (small) is used especially for small affected areas and areas where there are severe changes in unevenness such as around the nose, mouth, and eyes.
The use of 60 enables laser irradiation and cooling of the affected area, and also improves the operability of the operator.

The operator sets the irradiation conditions by operating the setting keys displayed on the LCD panel 2. When the window unit (small) 60 is attached, the single mode is set, and when the window unit (large) 40 or the window unit (middle) 50 is attached, the scan mode is set. The scanning pattern shape can be selected from those stored in the memory 16 in advance, and a circular pattern, a square pattern, a rectangular pattern, a line pattern, and the like are prepared. Hereinafter, the description will be made assuming that the window unit (large) 40 is attached to the handpiece 20.

After the operator prepares the main body 1 side, the operator holds the handpiece 20 by hand and brings the first window 42 into contact with the affected part. Light source 1 from scan head 20a
The aiming light is irradiated by the first mirror 23 and the second mirror 24 according to the selected scanning pattern shape. The surgeon adjusts the contact position of the first window 42 so as to match the target affected part while checking the affected part observed through the windows 42 and 44 and the irradiation position of the aiming light, and also determines the shape and size of the irradiation pattern. Set the

When the operator completes the setting of the position of the irradiation site and the setting of the laser output by observing the aiming light, the operator presses a READY switch (not shown) to put the apparatus in a READY state. When the trigger signal is input from the foot switch 9, the control unit 15 drives and controls the first galvanometer 23a and the second galvanometer 24a to scan the laser light from the laser light source unit 10, and treats the selected scanning area. The part is irradiated with laser light. When laser irradiation cannot be performed on the entire desired treatment site in one scan, laser irradiation may be performed repeatedly by gradually moving the scanner head 20.

During laser irradiation, the cooling mechanism is operated by operating the keys on the liquid crystal panel 2. Peltier device 2
By driving the chiller 8 and the chiller 5, the first window 42 is cooled, and the affected part in contact with the first window 42 is cooled. At this time, since the second window 44 on the non-contact side is kept thermally insulated, dew condensation on the surface thereof is prevented. Therefore, the operator's field of view through the windows 42 and 44 is kept good, and a decrease in the transmittance of laser light is suppressed, so that treatment can be performed efficiently.

[0037]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The affected part can be appropriately cooled in accordance with the size of the laser irradiation area, and the operability of the operator can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic external view of a laser treatment apparatus used for hair removal treatment and the like.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a main configuration of an optical system and a control system.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a window unit and a cooling mechanism.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing each shape and replacement method of a window unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Laser device main body 4 Fiber cable 15 Control part 20 Handpiece 20a Scanner head 21 Mirror 22 Collimator lens 23 First mirror 24 Second mirror 25 Condensing lens 27 Window mounting plate 28 Peltier element 32 Screw 40 Window unit (large) 41 Window Frame 42 First window 47 Slotted hole 50 Window unit (medium) 60 Window unit (small)

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A laser treatment apparatus for irradiating a skin with laser light from a treatment laser light source, comprising: a handpiece unit having an irradiation optical system for irradiating laser light to a desired position; A light guide optical system that guides light to the handpiece portion, a heat exchanger provided in the handpiece portion, and contact with skin made of a material having thermal conductivity while transmitting the laser light and visible light. A window unit having a window having a contact surface and a heat conducting part for transmitting the cooling temperature of the heat exchanger to the window, and mounting means for detachably mounting the window unit to the handpiece unit. A window unit having a window having a contact surface of a size, the window unit being attached to the handpiece portion and being replaceable. Therapy device. 2. The laser treatment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the handpiece section has a heat conducting member cooled by the heat exchanger, and the window unit has a predetermined shape through which laser light from the irradiation optical system passes. A laser treatment apparatus, wherein the window is located at a position, and the window is attached to the heat conducting member by the attaching means. 3. The laser treatment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said heat exchanger is an electronic heat exchanger. 4. The laser treatment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said irradiation optical system has a scanning optical system for scanning a laser beam on the skin in contact with said window.