Method and apparatus for controlling the thermal profile of skin

摘要

A method is provided for cooling skin during irradiation treatment including thermally coupling a window (12) to the skin and actively extracting heat from the window. The window may be transparent to therapeutic wavelengths transmitted to and through the window and to the skin below. An apparatus for therapeutic treatment of skin tissue is provided, including a source (24) of electromagnetic radiation, a window (12) transparent to the radiation coupled to the skin being treated to remove heat from the skin, coolant fluid (16) coupled to the window to extract heat from the window, and a heat exchanger (22/40) thermally coupled to the coolant to remove thermal energy from the coolant.