Claims
- 1. A treatment method for providing a substance to be absorbed onto a surface of a patient's skin, comprising:
a) applying lidocaine or other type of skin treatment drug onto the surface of the patient's skin by way of a probe head that provides at least one of: i) electrical pulses to the skin surface, and ii) vibrational pulses to the skin surface, in order to cause absorption of the lidocaine within the patient's skin, wherein the lidocaine or other type of skin treatment drug is provided onto the patient's skin by way of at least one solution-absorbing pad that is disposed against the probe head.
- 2. A treatment method for delivery of lidocaine or other type of skin treatment drug to a patient's skin, comprising:
a) applying electrical bursts of pulses onto the patient's skin by way of electrodes provided on a head of a probe that is placed against the patient's skin; b) applying mechanical vibrations at either a same frequency and phase or an integer multiple or submultiple thereof, as the bursts of pulses onto the patient's skin, by way of a vibrating element provided on the head of the probe; and c) at the same time as steps a) and b), providing, between the electrodes and the patient's skin, at least two solution-absorbing pads electrically insulated from each other and each one of the two solution-absorbing pads being in electrical contact with one or more of the electrodes on the head of the probe, wherein at least one of the two solution-absorbing pads is soaked with lidocaine or other type of skin treatment drug and the other of the two solution-absorbing pads is soaked with a conductive fisiological solution.
- 3. A treatment method according to claim 2, wherein the two solution-absorbing pads are gauze pads.
- 4. A treatment method according to claim 2, wherein the two solution-absorbing pads are hydrogel pads.
- 5. An apparatus for transdermal delivery of lidocaine or other type of skin treatment drug to a patient's skin, comprising:
a probe having a head with one central electrode and at least two peripheral electrodes disposed around the one central electrode; a vibrating plate provided adjacent to the head; a first solution-absorbing pad provided against a first region of a surface the head in which the one central electrode and the at least two peripheral electrodes are disposed; and a second solution-absorbing pad provided against a second region of the surface of the head, the second region being different and non-overlapping with the first region; and a pulse generator configured to deliver bursts of electrical pulses to the one central electrode and the at least two peripheral electrodes, wherein bursts of electrical pulses are provided to the patient's skin by way of the one central electrode and the at least two peripheral electrodes, at a same phase and a same frequency, or at an integer multiple or submultiple thereof, as mechanical vibrations being provided to the patient's skin by way of the vibrating plate, and wherein the second solution absorbing pad includes a fisiological solution provided thereon and the second solution absorbing pad includes a lidocaine solution provided thereon.
- 6. An apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the first and second solution-absorbing pads are gauze pads.
- 7. An apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the first and second solution-absorbing pads are hydrogel pads.
- 8. An apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising:
a first rubber device provided between the first and second solution absorbing pads and acting as an electrical insulation device between the first and second solution absorbing pads.
- 9. An apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the first rubber device has a square shape.
- 10. An apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising:
a second rubber device provided around an entire circumferential area of the second solution absorbing pad.
- 11. An apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the first region includes the one central electrode but not the at least two peripheral electrodes, and wherein the second region includes the at least two peripheral electrodes but not the one central electrode.
- 12. An apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the head of the probe is a disposable sterilized component that is removed from the probe and discarded after treatment of the patient.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application 60/281,808, filed Apr. 6, 2001, and whereby this application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/397,533, filed Mar. 27, 2003, which in turn is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/201,644, filed Jul. 24, 2002, which in turn is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/074,234, filed Feb. 14, 2002, which in turn is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/942,044, filed Aug. 30, 2001, which in turn is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/922,927, filed Aug. 7, 2001, each of which is incorporated in its entirety herein by reference.
Provisional Applications (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
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60281808 |
Apr 2001 |
US |
Continuation in Parts (5)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
10397533 |
Mar 2003 |
US |
Child |
10448468 |
May 2003 |
US |
Parent |
10201644 |
Jul 2002 |
US |
Child |
10397533 |
Mar 2003 |
US |
Parent |
10074234 |
Feb 2002 |
US |
Child |
10201644 |
Jul 2002 |
US |
Parent |
09942044 |
Aug 2001 |
US |
Child |
10074234 |
Feb 2002 |
US |
Parent |
09922927 |
Aug 2001 |
US |
Child |
09942044 |
Aug 2001 |
US |