Multifunctional Skin Patch with Pre-Cooled Hydrogel and Indicator Layer
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current dermatology treatments, particularly those involving lasers, face challenges in ensuring skin cooling, pain management, and plume control, with existing solutions like ice packs and suction being inadequate for prolonged procedures and not effectively preventing hazardous plume escape.
Innovation Solution
A multifunctional skin patch comprising a pre-cooled transparent hydrogel layer and a transparent indicator layer with embedded particles that changes appearance upon treatment, providing skin cooling, pain management, and plume control, while ensuring proper treatment application through its use during and after procedures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If ice packs are used for skin cooling, then cooling effect is achieved, but the cooling is not sustained for prolonged procedures
Solution Approach 1:
The hydrogel layer is pre-cooled before application to the skin, storing thermal energy in advance. This preliminary cooling action allows the gel to maintain a sustained cooling effect throughout the treatment procedure, overcoming the limitation of ice packs that lose cooling capacity quickly.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the physical state and thermal properties of the cooling medium by using a hydrogel with specific thermal conductivity and heat capacity characteristics. The hydrogel maintains a controlled temperature range (e.g., 4-10°C) throughout the procedure, providing consistent cooling that adapts to the treatment duration.
2Object-generated harmful factors
If traditional plume control methods are used, then some plume containment is achieved, but hazardous plume escape is not effectively prevented
Solution Approach 1:
The hydrogel layer serves multiple functions simultaneously: it cools the skin, manages pain, and acts as a physical barrier to contain laser plume. This multi-functionality eliminates the need for separate plume control devices and provides reliable plume containment as an integrated safety feature.
Solution Approach 2:
The hydrogel layer acts as an intermediary barrier between the laser treatment and the environment. It intercepts and contains the plume at the skin surface level, preventing hazardous particles from escaping into the air while allowing the laser energy to penetrate and treat the target tissue underneath.
3Ease of operation
If a skin patch is applied during treatment, then skin cooling and pain management are improved, but the treatment device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The skin patch is segmented into distinct functional layers: a transparent indicator layer on top and a transparent hydrogel layer below. Each layer performs a specific function (plume containment and cooling respectively), allowing the system to achieve multiple benefits while maintaining simplicity through functional decomposition.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses transparent materials for both layers, creating an optically clear interface that copies the appearance of untreated skin. This transparency allows the treatment area to be visually monitored without removing the protective and therapeutic layers, maintaining operational simplicity while providing enhanced safety and comfort features.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The skin patch effectively cools the skin, manages pain, controls hazardous plumes, and ensures proper treatment application, outperforming previous methods by providing sustained cooling and containment of treatment byproducts, enhancing safety and efficacy during dermatological procedures.
Implementation Method 1
a transparent hydrogel configured to be pre-cooled and applied to a portion of a patient's skin prior to a treatment procedure to cool and/or control pain within the portion of the patient's skin during and/or after the treatment procedure
Implementation Method 2
The indicator particles are configured to change in appearance upon application of the treatment procedure through the transparent indicator layer
Implementation Method 3
at least one of the transparent indicator layer and the transparent hydrogel layer act as a barrier to particles ejected from the patient's skin due to the treatment procedure
Data Source
AI summary
A multifunctional skin patch can be used during a treatment procedure to achieve one or more safety factors, including skin cooling, pain management, laser plume control, and/or proper application of the treatment. The multifunctional skin patch includes a transparent hydrogel layer that can be applied to a patient's skin prior to application of the treatment procedure. The treatment procedure can be conducted through the transparent hydrogel layer, and the transparent hydrogel layer (with can be pre-cooled) can cool and/or control pain within the portion of the patient's skin during and/or after the treatment procedure. In some instances, the multifunctional skin patch can also include a transparent indicator layer (covering at least a portion of the transparent hydrogel layer) with dispersed indicator particles attached thereto and/or embedded within. The indicator particles are configured to change in appearance upon application of treatment procedure through the transparent indicator layer.