JP2003024458A - Laser beam irradiation probe - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enhance the operability of a probe with touch sensor by mounting a CCD camera on the tip of the probe so that a skin surface to be irradiated with laser beam can be observed, and displaying a state allowing the emission of laser beam or not. SOLUTION: This laser beam irradiation probe 1 comprises contact sensors T1 and T2 mounted on the tip of a head part to make contact with the skin while opening a laser irradiation port b; the CCD camera 16, a semiconductor laser diode 18, and a high-luminance white light emitting diode 19 installed within the head part toward the laser irradiation port b; an image signal processing circuit for displaying the taken image of the CCD camera 16 on a monitor display; and a safety circuit for outputting an ON signal to the semiconductor laser diode 18 when touching the contact sensors to the body.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a laser beam irradiation probe for irradiating the skin with a laser beam to treat hair loss and beautiful skin.

[0002]

When the skin after removing hair with a depilatory cream is irradiated with laser light, the laser light is absorbed by melanin in the epidermis to generate heat, which causes protein degeneration in the skin tissue. As a result, the sebaceous glands and the papilla of the hair are damaged, and the tissue of the hair follicle is hardened to exert a hair removal effect of suppressing the growth of hair.

Alternatively, when abnormal pigment cells scattered on the epidermis or dermis of skin such as spots and freckles are irradiated with laser light, these pigment cells generate heat and are dispersed into fine particles. Dispersed abnormal pigment cells float on the surface, become waste products, are absorbed by blood vessels and lymphatic vessels, and disappear, exhibiting a beautiful skin effect that restores normal-colored skin.

[0004] When irradiating a laser beam to treat hair removal or beautiful skin, it is necessary to precisely irradiate the pores and abnormal pigment cells with the laser beam. However, conventionally, the position of pores or abnormal pigment cells cannot be accurately confirmed because the surface of the skin irradiated with laser light is hidden by the shadow of the probe. Therefore, it is difficult to accurately hit the target with laser light, and effective treatment cannot be performed.
There was a risk of damaging the skin except for pores and abnormal pigment cells.

On the other hand, since the energy density of laser light is orders of magnitude higher than that of a normal light source, a large amount of light energy is absorbed when the laser light is applied to the living tissue, and the temperature becomes high at the portion where the power is concentrated. Burning and protein denaturation occur. In particular, damage to the eyes, which is a sensory organ sensitive to light, cannot be ignored, and it is extremely dangerous to directly put laser light into the eyes.

Further, since the laser beam has a high directivity and the optical power does not change from a close range even if the laser beam is far away from the light source, an accident occurs such that the laser beam emitted from a distant place is in sight and damaged. Easier to do. In order to prevent such an accident, a probe has been commercialized in which a touch sensor is attached to the tip of the probe and a safety measure is applied to irradiate a laser beam only when the tip of the probe comes into contact with the skin.

However, the conventional probe with a touch sensor does not know whether the touch sensor can detect the contact with the skin and irradiate the laser beam at present. Therefore, even if the switch is pressed, the laser beam may be unintended depending on the contact state. May not be irradiated. For this reason, it cannot be distinguished from a failure, which hinders comfortable operation.

Therefore, according to the present invention, the CCD is attached to the tip of the probe.
The first purpose is to be able to observe the skin surface that is irradiated with laser light by attaching a camera, and by displaying on the display screen of the CCD camera whether the touch sensor is currently effective and laser light can be irradiated, The second purpose is to improve the operability of the probe with a touch sensor.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has the following constitution.

That is, according to the first aspect of the invention, a contact sensor is attached to the tip of the head portion which should come into contact with the skin, a laser irradiation opening is opened, and a CCD camera and a semiconductor laser are provided in the head portion toward the laser irradiation opening. A light source and an illumination light source are installed, and a video signal processing circuit for displaying a captured image of the CCD camera on a monitor screen and a safety circuit for outputting an ON signal to the semiconductor laser light source when the contact sensor contacts the body are provided. It is a laser light irradiation probe. The invention according to claim 2 is the laser light irradiation probe according to claim 1, wherein an output sign of the ON signal is displayed on the monitor screen when the contact sensor contacts the body. The invention according to claim 3 is the laser light irradiation probe according to claim 1, wherein a photographed image of the CCD camera is displayed on the monitor screen when the contact sensor contacts the body. A fourth aspect of the present invention is the laser light irradiation probe according to the first aspect, which is provided with a connection mechanism for receiving an image picked up by the CCD camera on a home television.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a connection configuration diagram of a laser beam irradiation probe embodying the present invention. Laser light irradiation probe 1
Has a video terminal V1 and a power supply terminal P1 at the base end, connects the video terminal V1 to a home television M via a cord V2, and connects the power supply terminal P1 to an AC adapter A via a cord P2. .

2 and 3 are a front view and a vertical sectional view of a laser beam irradiation probe embodying the present invention. The laser beam irradiation probe 1 has a front cylinder 12 integrally attached to the front of a case 11, and a heat sink 13 having a trapezoidal cross section inside the front cylinder 12.
Insert the base of the. Further, the board K is built in and the control circuit 2, the fan 3, the LED lamp 4, and the push switch 5 are attached. The fan 3 is installed behind the front tube 12 to air-cool the heat sink 13. The LED lamp 4 and the push switch 5 are opened at the opposing surfaces of the case 11 and their tips are exposed to the outside.

The tip cylinder 12 has a screw screw a engraved on its outer periphery, and the tapered cap 1 is inserted through the screw screw a.
Attach 4. The cap 14 has a laser irradiation opening b to be brought into contact with the skin at the tip, and a conductive thin film for connecting the base end to the control circuit 2 is adhered or vapor-deposited along the side face from the opening end face to contact the upper and lower two. Form the children T1 and T2.
The cap 14 acts as a spacer between the tip of the heat sink 13 and the skin, and adjusts the distance between the tip of the heat sink 13 and the skin by turning the screw a.

The heat sink 13 has a through hole c formed in the center, a magnifying lens 15 is installed at the innermost portion of the through hole c toward the laser irradiation port b, and the image pickup surface of the CCD 16 is exposed behind the magnifying lens 15. . As a result, the optical axis of the CCD 16 is made orthogonal to the opening end face of the laser irradiation port b. Further, a through hole d is opened above the through hole c along a direction inclined with respect to the center line of the heat sink 13, and a ball lens 17 is attached to the opening end face of the through hole d toward the laser irradiation port b. The laser diode 18 is inserted in the rear of the. As a result, the laser light of the laser diode 18 is obliquely applied to the laser irradiation opening b. In addition, a plurality of through holes e are formed around the through hole c.
High-luminance white light-emitting diode 1 for illumination
9 is inserted. As a result, the illumination light of the high-intensity white light emitting diode 19 is emitted from the outer peripheral direction toward the laser irradiation port b.

The heat sink 13 is the laser diode 1.
The heat generated during the operation of No. 8 is diffused by the heat conduction to suppress the deterioration of the performance. Therefore, it is cast from aluminum or its alloy having a high heat conduction efficiency, and some dummy through holes are provided to enhance the heat radiation efficiency.

The spherical lens 17 collects the laser light of the laser diode 18 and forms a beam waist at the front focus. However, since the focal length is shorter than that of a normal lens, the focal depth is also small and the optical power is narrow. Can be narrowed down. Further, from the position beyond the focal point, on the contrary, it spreads at the same angle, and the optical power is dispersed in a wide range. For this reason, the energy density becomes low at the position beyond the focal point and the optical power declines, so that the risk of damaging the living body is reduced even if the irradiation is erroneously performed.

The laser diode 18 excites by directly applying a current to a PN junction diode made of a compound semiconductor such as GaAs (gallium arsenide) to excite it. Further, it emits a laser beam having a peak wavelength of 600 to 1600 nm and an optical output of 5 mW to 3 W, which has good thermal efficiency and causes sufficient photothermal reaction on the skin. Furthermore, in addition to thermal reactions, there are photoelectric reactions, photomagnetic reactions, photodynamic reactions, photochemical reactions, photoimmune reactions, photoenzymatic reactions, etc., and photobiological activation promotes the metabolism of living tissues to promote blood circulation in the skin. Since it is highly absorbed by water and blood, it has excellent skin penetration.

The control circuit 2 includes a touch sensor circuit for detecting contact of the contacts T1 and T2 with the skin, a timer control circuit for timer-controlling the on-time of intermittent irradiation of the laser diode 18, and a drive circuit for the laser diode 18. It consists of. The drive circuit turns on / off the lighting of the laser diode 18 based on commands from both the touch sensor circuit and the timer control circuit. That is, the laser diode 18 is turned on for the first time when both the touch sensor circuit and the timer control circuit are outputting the ON signal. Therefore, when the touch sensor circuit does not output the ON signal, the laser diode 18 is not turned on even if the timer control circuit outputs the ON signal.

FIG. 4 shows a block diagram of the touch sensor circuit. The touch sensor circuit converts a weak AC voltage generated when the contacts T1 and T2 come into contact with the skin into a DC voltage via the band filter 21, the rectifier circuit 22 and the amplifier 23, and performs waveform shaping, level adjustment, After offset adjustment, A / D converter 24, I / O interface 25
Input to the CPU 26 via. In addition, the CPU 26
Laser diode 18 via the I / O interface 25
Drive circuit 27 is connected.

In addition to the contact type, the touch sensor circuit detects a change in impedance such as capacitance and resistance,
A piezoelectric element may be used to detect pressure changes.

The touch sensor circuit is constructed as described above,
The voltage values of the contacts T1 and T2 are read to determine whether or not a predetermined AC voltage is generated, and when a predetermined AC voltage is generated to both the contacts T1 and T2, a drive circuit for the laser diode 18 The ON signal is output to 27. When two or more contacts are provided, it is determined whether or not a predetermined AC voltage is generated in each contact, and the laser diode 18 is driven for the first time when a predetermined AC voltage is generated in all the contacts. The ON signal is output to the circuit 27.

In the LED lamp 4, red and green LED chips are put in one lamp, and one or both of them are turned on at the same time to emit red, green, yellow, or orange (amber) three colors. Use what you can.

The push switch 5 performs an operation of switching on / off of a power source and on time of intermittent irradiation. That is,
Each time the push switch 5 is pressed once, the mode is switched in the order of power-on, on-time switching (1 to 6 seconds), and power-off. At this time, the LED lamp 4 corresponds to the on-time of 1 second to 6 seconds, from green lighting to green flashing, orange lighting,
The display changes in the order of orange blinking, red lighting, and red blinking.
Finally, when the push switch 5 is turned on for a long time (1.5 seconds), the power is turned off and the laser light irradiation is stopped. As for the on-time, the timer is set to a very short count value of 1 to 6 seconds in order to prevent temporary damage to the skin.

The laser light irradiation probe of the present invention is constructed as described above, and when performing a treatment, first, the push switch 5 is pushed to turn on the power. Next, the tip of the cap 14 is pressed against the skin, and the probe is moved while looking at the enlarged image of the laser irradiation port b displayed on the screen of the television M. At this time, the touch sensor circuit causes the contacts T1 and T2 to
When the contact with the skin is detected, an ON signal is output to the drive circuit 27 of the laser diode 18. At the same time, an on-signal output sign indicating that the laser M is now ready to be irradiated with laser light is displayed on the screen of the television M. When the output sign of the ON signal is displayed, the push switch 5 is pressed to irradiate the laser beam toward the target.

The output sign of the ON signal may be displayed by displaying / non-displaying the screen image of the television M. That is, the touch sensor circuit detects the contact of the contacts T1 and T2 with the skin and the ON signal is displayed. Is output, the screen image is output to the television M. If not, the output is stopped and a blank image is displayed on the television M. As a result, while the screen image of the television M is being displayed, the user can be informed that the laser light can be emitted.

When the push switch 5 is pressed, the laser diode 18 is turned on for a predetermined period of 1 second and then rested for 1 second. Then, the laser light is intermittently irradiated while repeating the irradiation and the rest. When changing the on-time, the push switch 5 is pressed to switch the on-time, and the push switch 5 is stopped from being pressed at the desired on-time.

[0028]

As described above, in the laser light irradiation probe of the present invention, the ON signal is sent to the semiconductor laser light source when the contact signal and the video signal processing circuit for displaying the photographed image of the CCD camera on the monitor screen are in contact with the body. Equipped with a safety circuit that outputs Therefore, according to the present invention, the switch of the probe can be operated while observing the image taken by the CCD camera, so that the laser beam can be surely irradiated toward the target. For this reason, the treatment efficiency is improved, and the risk of damaging the skin by irradiating the laser beam other than the target site is reduced. In addition, since the skin once irradiated with the laser light changes, the site to be treated next can be immediately identified. Furthermore, since the skin condition can be magnified and observed in detail, there is an advantage that the health condition of the skin can be grasped.

Further, since the laser beam is not emitted except when the contact sensor touches the body, the safety is improved and the monitor screen displays that the laser beam is currently irradiating, which is against the intention. The laser light will not be radiated and the operation will be comfortable.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a connection configuration diagram of a laser light irradiation probe embodying the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of a laser beam irradiation probe embodying the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a block of a touch sensor circuit embodying the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Laser light irradiation probe 11 cases 12 Tip cylinder 13 heat sink 14 cap 15 magnifying lens 16 CCD 17 ball lens 18 Laser diode 19 High brightness white light emitting diode 2 control circuit 21 bandpass filter 22 Rectifier circuit 23 Amplifier 24 A / D converter 25 I / O interface 26 CPU 27 Drive circuit 3 fans 4 LED lamp 5 push switch a screw screw b Laser irradiation port c, d, e through holes A AC adapter K board M TV P1 power supply terminal P2 code V1 video terminal V2 code

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Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A contact sensor is attached to the tip of a head portion that should come into contact with the skin, a laser irradiation opening is opened, and a CCD camera, a semiconductor laser light source, and an illumination light source are installed in the head portion toward the laser irradiation opening. A laser beam irradiation probe comprising: a video signal processing circuit for displaying a captured image of the CCD camera on a monitor screen; and a safety circuit for outputting an ON signal to the semiconductor laser light source when the contact sensor contacts the body. 2. The laser light irradiation probe according to claim 1, wherein an output sign of the ON signal is displayed on the monitor screen when the contact sensor contacts the body. 3. The laser light irradiation probe according to claim 1, wherein a captured image of the CCD camera is displayed on the monitor screen when the contact sensor contacts the body. 4. The laser light irradiation probe according to claim 1, further comprising a connection mechanism for receiving an image taken by the CCD camera on a home television.