A self-contained, hyperthermic conditioning unit and selectively controllable environment for exercising. The unit comprises a base portion having a bed therein and a removable cover connected to the base portion to enclose a personal compartment within the unit. One or more heating elements provide heat to the personal compartment and one more pieces of physical exercise equipment are provided within the personal compartment.

Dermatological systems and methods for reducing pain associated with treating of skin with high-fluence therapeutic laser light including applying a first agent to solubilize oils, removing the first agent and oil to reduce the level of oil in the skin by at least 85%, rehydrating the skin after the oil removal, applying a contact cooling element including a cooling window to the area within five minutes of rehydrating the skin, cooling the skin from a first to a second temperature, and applying at least one high-fluence therapeutic laser pulse to the skin.

Dermatological systems and methods for providing a therapeutic laser treatment wherein the magnitude of heat power or energy applied to a target skin area via a therapeutic laser pulse is based on the magnitude of cooling power or energy applied to the target skin area during a cooling of the skin prior to treatment with one or more therapeutic laser pulses.

A method of delivering light energy to a pathological tissue includes emitting light energy from a first optical element within a cannula, producing a substantially uniform irradiance profile from the light energy within the cannula, transmitting the light energy emitted from the first optical element through a second optical element in thermal contact with a distal end of the cannula to the pathological tissue without ablating the pathological tissue, and conducting thermal energy from the pathological tissue through the second optical element and to the cannula.

An apparatus is provided for irradiating at least a portion of a patient's brain with electromagnetic radiation to treat stroke, Parkinson's Disease, Alzheimer's Disease, or depression. The apparatus includes a source of the electromagnetic radiation. The apparatus further includes an output optical element including a rigid and substantially thermally conductive material and a surface configured to be in thermal communication with the patient's body. The apparatus further includes a cooler thermally coupled to the output optical element to remove heat from the output optical element. The apparatus further includes a heat sink thermally coupled to the cooler, wherein the heat sink is positioned so that the electromagnetic radiation from the source propagates through the heat sink and through the output optical element.

An apparatus and method is provided for irradiating a portion of a patient's scalp with light. The apparatus includes a source of light including one or more wavelengths in a range of about 630 nanometers to about 1064 nanometers. The apparatus further includes an output optical element in optical communication with the source. The output optical element includes an emission surface configured to emit a light beam having a cross-sectional area greater than about 2 cm.sup.2 at the emission surface of the output optical element and having a time-averaged irradiance in a range of about 10 mW/cm.sup.2 to about 10 W/cm.sup.2 across the cross-sectional area. The apparatus further includes a thermally conductive portion configured to be placed in thermal communication with the irradiated portion of the patient's scalp and to remove heat from the irradiated portion of the patient's scalp at a rate in a range of about 0.1 Watt to about 5 Watts.

The present invention relates to a light treatment apparatus and a method of controlling the same, and provides to a light treatment apparatus and a method of controlling the same, including: a treatment light irradiating unit for irradiating a treatment region with treatment light a plurality of times while moving on the treatment region; a sensing unit for detecting movement information of the treatment light irradiating unit; and a control unit for controlling an irradiation pattern of the treatment light based on the detected movement information such that an irradiation area of the treatment light to be irradiated from the treatment light irradiating unit overlaps at least in part with an irradiation area of the treatment light which is previously irradiated.

A method for operating a light source within a photo-thermal targeted treatment system for targeting a chromophore embedded within a medium is disclosed. The method includes: 1) applying a treatment protocol to a skin surface; 2) measuring a skin surface temperature while applying the treatment protocol; 3) calculating parameters regarding a heat transfer provided by the photo-thermal targeted treatment system based on the skin surface temperature so measured; and 4) adjusting the light source and the treatment protocol in accordance with the information regarding the heat transfer.

A method of applying heat to living tissue mainly uses a device for performing heat treatment on at least a portion of the living tissue in high-low-high temperature steps. In high temperature step, the temperature of the at least a portion of the living tissue is heated and kept between 39-46° C., and the heating period is no longer than 30 minutes. In low temperature step, the at least a portion of the living tissue is cooled, and the low temperature period should not be greater than a natural cooling time interval. In addition, the low temperature period must also be shorter than the heating period. Thus, the present invention allows the abnormal cells to be selectively restored or apoptotic without damaging the normal cells.

Methods, apparatuses and systems are provided for non-invasive delivery of microwave therapy. Microwave energy may be applied to epidermal, dermal and subdermal tissue of a patient to achieve various therapeutic and/or aesthetic results. In one embodiment, the microwave energy is applied to a target tissue via an energy delivery applicator connected to an energy generator. The energy delivery applicator may comprise one or more antennas, including monopole, dipole, slot and/or waveguide antennas (among others) that are used to direct the microwave energy to the target tissue. The energy delivery applicator may also comprise a cooling element for avoiding thermal destruction to non-target tissue and/or a suction device to localize thermal treatment at specific portions of a skin fold.