513 results about "SKIN REGIONS" patented technology

The present invention discloses a novel, user-wearable system for monitoring the oxygen concentration, or oxygenation trend, in the tissue of a subject undergoing aerobic stress. The system comprises a lightweight detector, worn against the skin surface of the subject, at the site being monitored. The system further includes wearable power pack and display means for displaying information indicative of the metabolic condition of the region being monitored. The detector preferably employs a continuous wave spectrophotometer having one or more sources of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths between about 760 and 800 nanometers directed into the tissue of the subject. The detector utilizes photon migration to detect the portion of the transmitted radiation arriving at an adjacent skin region. The present invention also discloses methods for displaying the aerobic metabolic condition of a subject.

A region of skin, other than the fingertips, is stimulated. After stimulation, an opening is created in the skin (e.g., by lancing the skin) to cause a flow of body fluid from the region. At least a portion of this body fluid is transported to a testing device where the concentration of analyte (e.g., glucose) in the body fluid is then determined. It is found that the stimulation of the skin provides results that are generally closer to the results of measurements from the fingertips, the traditional site for obtaining body fluid for analyte testing.

A system and a method for rapidly tracking multiple faces uses a face-like region generator to find a face-like region by skin color, motion, and silhouette information. A face tracking engine tracks faces based on new and old faces, and skin colors provided by the face-like regions. The tracked face is fed into a face status checker for determining whether the face-like regions are old faces tracked in a previous frame or are possible new faces. If the face-like regions are old faces, a face verification engine checks whether there exists a predefined percentage of overlapping area between an old face and a skin region. If yes, the old face is still in the current frame and its position is in the center of the skin region, otherwise, the position of the old face is found by a correlation operation.

A method and apparatus is provided for identifying imperfections in a person's facial, forearm or hand skin and for recommending an appropriate remedial cosmetic. The method includes providing an apparatus having a programmable computer, a camera connected to the computer, at least one visible wavelength light source for separately generating at least two different color images and at least one ultraviolet wavelength light source for an ultraviolet light image. Further, the method includes placing the ultraviolet and color images into a program of the computer and processing the images for pinpointing areas of skin requiring preventative treatment including those with skin damage. A remedial set of cosmetic products can thereby be recommended.

The present invention generally provides methods and devices that allow more efficient delivery of a stimulus, such as optical radiation, to the skin. In many embodiments, negative and/or positive pressure is applied to one or more skin regions in order to maintain a skin target under tension so as to redistribute blood volume between the skin target and other skin segments. In many cases, such tension can cause a depletion of the volumetric blood content in the skin target (that is, in the blood vessels beneath a surface of the skin target), thereby facilitating delivery of radiation to the skin target.

Methods and systems for automatically generating a mask delineating a region of interest (ROI) within an image containing skin are disclosed. The image may be of an anatomical area containing skin, such as the face, neck, chest, shoulders, arms or hands, among others, or may be of portions of such areas, such as the cheek, forehead, or nose, among others. The mask that is generated is based on the locations of anatomical features or landmarks in the image, such as the eyes, nose, eyebrows and lips, which can vary from subject to subject and image to image. As such, masks can be adapted to individual subjects and to different images of the same subjects, while delineating anatomically standardized ROIs, thereby facilitating standardized, reproducible skin analysis over multiple subjects and/or over multiple images of each subject. Moreover, the masks can be limited to skin regions that include uniformly illuminated portions of skin while excluding skin regions in shadow or hot-spot areas that would otherwise provide erroneous feature analysis results. Methods and systems are also disclosed for automatically registering a skin mask delineating a skin ROI in a first image captured in one imaging modality (e.g., standard white light, UV light, polarized light, multi-spectral absorption or fluorescence imaging, etc.) onto a second image of the ROI captured in the same or another imaging modality. Such registration can be done using linear as well as non-linear spatial transformation techniques.

The present invention is generally directed to dermatological devices and methods in which one or more skin characteristics, such as the melanin index, are determined by analyzing radiation backscattered from a skin region illuminated by at least one, and preferably, two or more wavelengths, e.g., in a range of about 600 nm to about 900 nm. In many embodiments, the radiation is coupled to the skin via a waveguide, and an optical sensor is employed to ascertain contact between the waveguide (e.g., a waveguide surface adapted for contact with the skin) and the skin.

An apparatus adapted to inhibit pain signals generated by pain receptors in the skin during a skin related medical treatment such as an injection. An evacuation chamber is provided with an essentially rigid interface element larger than a threshold surface area through which a medical treatment can be administered to a selected skin region, one or more walls which are placeable in the vicinity of the skin region, an interior defined by the walls and by the interface element, and an opening at the bottom of the interior which is sealable by the skin region. A device generates a vacuum within the evacuation chamber interior to a level greater than the threshold vacuum level suitable for drawing the skin region through the opening towards, and in a compressing relation against, the interface element, to inhibit the transmission of a pain signal generated by pain receptors located within the skin region.

An apparatus adapted to inhibit pain signals generated by pain receptors in the skin during a skin related medical treatment such as an injection. An evacuation chamber is provided with an essentially rigid interface element through which a medical treatment can be administered to a selected skin region, one or more walls which are placeable on, or in the vicinity of, the skin region, an interior defined by the walls and by the interface element, and an opening at the bottom of the interior which is sealable by the skin region. A device generates a vacuum within the evacuation chamber interior to a level suitable for drawing the skin region through the opening towards, and in a compressing relation against, the interface element, to inhibit the transmission of a pain signal generated by pain receptors located within the skin region.

The invention provides devices for the disruption of one or more layers of skin and methods of their use to administer therapeutic agents, e.g., antigens or drugs. The devices are designed to disrupt a defined area of skin. The defined area can approximate the area that a patch or other suitable vehicle for therapeutic agent, e.g., drug or vaccine, delivery is designed to contact. Exemplary devices employ a mask to define the area to be disrupted. Other devices disrupt a defined area by rotating in place. For devices that employ a mask that is secured to the skin, the invention provides methods of disrupting the stratum corneum by first securing the mask to the skin and then disrupting the skin. For rotating devices, the disrupting member is simply placed against the skin and actuated to effect disruption.

Methods, systems, and devices to treat a region of skin; the treatment may be used to stimulate the production of collagen. The region of skin undergoes a series of negative and positive pressures, where the series is characterized by an electronically regulated duty cycle. The region of skin may also be cooled to affect the modulus of elasticity of collagen inside the skin.

The present invention provides a system for increasing skin rejuvenation of a region of a patient's skin comprising a pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF) frequency generator for constantly providing electromagnetic pulses to said region of a patient's skin and a deep tissue diathermy device for constantly applying heat to said region of a patient's skin up to temperature T. The system is adapted for simultaneously applying heat and PEMF to the region of a patient's skin,—wherein application of the system increases skin rejuvenation such that the skin rejuvenation increase (SRI) is greater than the sum of the SRI provided by electromagnetic pulses increase and the SRI provided by the deep tissue diathermy device increase.

New or significantly changed skin lesions are detected by providing digital baseline image data of an area of a subject's skin by placing a calibration piece on the area and then positioning a digital camera to frame the area within a field of view of the camera and digitally photographing the area to produce a digital baseline image of the area. The digital baseline image is downloaded from the camera to a computer, which digitally filters the baseline image to produce a partially transparent baseline image scaled to fit over a viewfinder display of the camera. The filtered baseline image is printed on a transparent sheet to produce template. Substantially later, a calibration piece is placed on the area, and the template is placed over the viewfinder display of the camera. The camera is positioned to frame that area within the field of view so as to align a live image of the area with the baseline image on the template. The area is photographed to produce a digital current image thereof. The current image is downloaded to the computer, which is operated to alternately display the aligned current image data and the baseline image data to allow visual identification of lesions which changed enough in the “alternating image comparison display” to identify a new or significantly growing lesion.

The present invention provides improved methods and apparatus for skin treatment. The apparatus includes multiple sources of optical energy or several blades that are scanned along a region of skin to form micro-line patterns of damaged tissue. The micro-lines are small in at least one dimension, having a width of less than about 1 mm, and the wounded regions promote beneficial results by stimulation of wound healing and tissue remodeling.

A method and apparatus for removing hairs from living skin is provided involving the measurement with a colorimeter of the color of the area of the skin where the hair is to be removed to obtain a representative color value, employing the color value to select an optimum range of laser energy necessary to inactivate hair follicles in the area, yet minimize any inflammatory reaction, and directing laser energy of optimum range at the skin area to depilate such area.

Methods, systems, and devices to treat a region of skin; the treatment may be used to stimulate the production of collagen or destroy adipose tissue. The region of skin is exposed to a uniform energy application or series of applications. The region of skin may be exposed to positive and negative pressures. Therapeutic substances may be applied to the region of skin.

An apparatus and method can effectively detect both hands and hand shape of a user from images input through cameras. A skin image detecting skin regions from one of the input images and a stereoscopic distance image are used. For hand detection, background and noise are eliminated from a combined image of the skin image and the distance image and regions corresponding to actual both hands are detected from effective images having a high probability of hands. For hand shape detection, a non-skin region is eliminated from the skin image based on the stereoscopic distance information, hand shape candidate regions are detected from the remaining region after elimination, and finally a hand shape is determined.

The present invention relates to a device for adhering to the skin of a patient, suitable to make a skin incision there through, as well as to the use of such a device for allowing an incision or excision wound to be made through the said device, and for subsequent closing the wound. In particular, the device is suitable for adhering to the skin at the location the incision or excision is to be made, where after the incision or excision is made through the device in the skin at the envisaged location. The device comprises one or more basic layers (1, 2) that do not abut one another at the location of the wound. In contrast, an open skin area (3) is defined by the basic layer(s), which area is covered by an adhesive surface of a covering sheet (4). Further, adhesive strips (13, 23) are provided that are suitable to be adhered to the skin at both sides of the incision, therewith closing the skin in a highly controlled manner, and enabling excision wounds to be conveniently closed as well

The present invention provides for selective and uniform delivery of compositions to protect certain targeted areas: (1) skin proximate colorable or dyeable hair from staining by hair colors or hair dyes; or (2) skin proximate nails against nail skin contaminants which may include hair color or hair dyes. Embodiments of products of the present invention may comprise the protective composition and a device for selective and uniform delivery of the composition to the targeted area of the skin. Products may also comprise a protective composition having a solid or semisolid consistency which is formed to enable selective and uniform delivery of the composition to the targeted area of the skin. Products may also comprise: (a) a hair color or hair dyeing kit comprising the protective composition and one or more hair color or hair dyeing components; or (b) a nail cosmetic kit comprising the protective composition and one or more nail cosmetic components.

A human body detecting device for detecting whether a person is included in a photographed image, including: near infrared ray light sources having different wavelengths; an imaging lens which converges light to form a subject image; an imaging element which forms a subject picture; a storing unit which stores the subject picture and spectrum reflectance information obtained by associating the wavelengths of the near infrared rays with the spectrum reflectance of the person's skin; a property extracting unit which extracts a difference between pixel values of predetermined pixels of subject pictures photographed for each wavelength of the near infrared rays; and a determining unit which determines whether the pixel corresponds to the skin by comparing the difference between the pixel values with the spectrum reflectance information, and decides a region where the pixels corresponding to the skin occupy a predetermined area to a skin region.