Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure provide method and apparatus for effecting (e.g., lightening) an appearance of skin by cooling or freezing small separated surface regions of the skin to produce regions of local hypopigmentation. The width of the regions can be, for example, smaller than about 1 mm or 0.5 mm, and a distance between these frozen regions can be greater than about 3 times the width of the regions. An exemplary apparatus can be provided that includes a plurality of spatially-separated thermally conductive arrangements that can be affixed or otherwise coupled to a base. For example, the conductive arrangements can be regions of conductive material provided in or proximal to a thermal insulator, or thermally conductive protrusions affixed to the base. The conductive arrangements can be cooled and then contacted with the skin surface to produce the small regions of hypopigmentation.

Systems, methods and devices for utilizing heat transfer parameters or energy expenditure of devices providing controlled hypothermia, normothermia or hyperthermia to detect changes, or the absence of changes, a patient's endogenous set-point temperature; which is not available during exogenously induced targeted temperature management. A particular embodiment would allow detection of fever in patients undergoing targeted temperature managed.

Dry eye treatment apparatus and methods are described herein which generally comprise a patch or strip affixed to the skin of the upper and/or lower eyelids to deliver heat or other forms of energy, pressure, drugs, moisture, etc. (alone or in combination) to the one or more meibomian glands contained within the underlying skin. The treatment strip or strips include one or more strips configured to adhere to an underlying region of skin in proximity to one or both eyes of a subject such that the one or more strips allow for the subject to blink naturally without restriction from the one or more patches. Moreover, the one or more strips may be configured to emit energy to the underlying region of skin and where the one or more strips are shaped to follow a location of one or more meibomiam glands contained within the underlying region of skin.

Controllers for dry eye treatment apparatus and methods are described herein which generally comprise a patch or strip affixed to the skin of the upper and/or lower eyelids to deliver heat to the one or more meibomian glands contained within the underlying skin. The treatment strip or strips include one or more strips configured to adhere to an underlying region of skin in proximity to one or both eyes of a subject such that the one or more strips allow for the subject to blink naturally without restriction from the one or more patches. A controller is in communication with the one or more strips and is programmable to monitor a temperature of the one or more strips to provide a treatment therapy above a threshold temperature of, e.g., 39° C., and below a maximum temperature of, e.g., 48° C., over a treatment period of 12 minutes.

Headphones include a pair of cups, each housing a speaker to be positioned over an ear of a user, a processor, a cooling mechanism disposed within each of the cups to regulate environmental conditions inside of the cups to match environmental thresholds provided by a virtual reality device displaying a virtual reality environment to the user, a temperature sensor and at least one additional environmental sensor disposed within each of the cups to monitor the environmental conditions inside the cups, the processor to subsequently analyze data associated with the sensors and compare the data to the environmental thresholds and the processor to selectively activate the cooling mechanism based on the comparison.

A thermal control unit for controlling a patient's temperature includes a fluid outlet for delivering temperature-controlled fluid to a patient, a pump, first and second cooling units, and a controller that selectively enables and disables at least one of the cooling units based on one more factors, such as the temperature of the fluid. Alternatively or additionally, a variable speed fan is included in one or both of the cooling units that blows air over the condenser and the controller selectively controls the fan speed based on factors such as the temperature of the circulating fluid. The thermal control unit may be modified to accept a cartridge having its own cooling unit. When so modified, the controller communicates with a controller inside of the cartridge and coordinates control of the cartridge cooling unit and the cooling unit inside the thermal control unit that is external to the cartridge.

A bed for therapeutic and recreational applications, comprises a frame structure, a mattress provided on the frame structure of the bed, a plurality of Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) configured to emit electromagnetic radiation, an infrared heater assembly provided within the frame structure, the infrared heater assembly including a plurality of flexible heating elements connected with a power source, a plurality of temperature sensors provided at a plurality of locations on the frame structure and the mattress in order to generate signals in correlation with temperature values at the plurality of locations. Further, the frame structure includes a plurality of frame segments adapted to rotate to respective predetermined angles. Also, the mattress is made from at least partially transparent material and includes a fluid that is at least partially transparent.

An illustrated view of a water bottle for providing therapy to a patient is presented. The water bottle is made of rubber, though the hot water bottle may be of other suitable material to hold water without leaking and to allow the temperature of the water held internally to be felt externally. The hot water bottle is described as holding and heating hot water, but one could also utilize the device and the contemplations of the device to use cool water and chilling the water, adding tepid water and keeping the water at an in between temperature, etc.

A multilayer smart tourniquet applied about a wound environment or injured tissue. The smart tourniquet can be supplied with sensors and micro heating and cooling units.

A treatment system delivers a breathing gas and frozen ice or other particles (FSP) to a bronchus of a lung of a patient in order to induce hypothermia. The breathing gas and the FSP are usually delivered through separate lumens. Clogging of an FSP lumen can be inhibited by heating and/or cooling of the lumen. The temperature of exhaled gases or a body temperature may be measured, and a controller can adjust the duration or rate at which the ice particles are delivered in order to control the patient's core temperature based on the measured temperature.