Patent Description:
Skin tags are here used as the name of the skin growths which we can all get a bit here and there on the body, usually in the face, the neck, arm pits or groins. These skin tags are also called fibroma (acrochorda) and consist of connective tissue cells and collagen. They can be removed surgically by being cut off, burned away usually by means of alternating current, or by means of the application of active specific liquids. Skin tags are harmless but can be perceived as unpleasant. In this specification the term skin tag is also meant to include teardrop-shaped birthmarks as well as old age warts.

Prior art also includes mechanical devices where a user can choke the skin tag by means of a wire snare which is positioned around the base of the skin tag or by means of a loop being applied around the skin tag so that it, due to lack of nutrition, dies and falls off the skin. Such known technology is disclosed in, for example, the patent specification <CIT>. In this text, a tool is reported in which a snare is tightened around a skin tag. A user pulls a ring connected to the snare. Due to this construction, the tool is not so convenient for being handled with only one hand, whereby it is not so well suited for a user who uses the tool on his/her own body. Furthermore, fitting the wire for use of the tool is not straightforward.

Another example of the prior art is disclosed in the publication <CIT>. Here, an aid is described which comprises a thread snare which is wrapped around a skin tag. The thread has loose ends by means of which a user tightens the snare. This kind of aid is also not the easiest to handle for a user, especially when a user uses the aid for removing a skin tag on his own body.

As a further example of prior art, reference is made to the publication <CIT>. In this is described a tool in which a loop of an elastic material is used being applied around the skin tag. In this case the loop is applied around the skin tag and passed over it by pushing the tool with its front part against and around the skin tag (i.e. against the skin on which the skin tag is located), after which the elastic loop is pressed over and around the skin tag.

The device according to one aspect of the invention consists of a tool for applying a thread loop around a skin tag, the tool comprising a hollow cylindrical handle with a piston being arranged to run inside the handle, the piston having a first end which in a base position for the piston abuts against an opening in a front end of the handle. A thumb grip is attached to the piston and via a slot in the handle the piston is arranged accessible from the outside of the handle whereby the piston is displaceable from its base position along the interior of the handle. The piston has at a first end a carrier to which an inner end of a thread cartridge is arranged to be connected. A thread loop is arranged to be laid around the skin tag at an outer end of the thread cartridge. A displacement of the piston from the base position by means of the thumb grip concentrates the thread loop around the tag, when the piston with its carrier is displaced backwards from the base position of the piston and thereby stretches the thread when the thread of the thread cartridge is attached to the carrier. The inner end of the thread cartridge is arranged to be detached from the carrier when the handle is tilted in relation to the longitudinal direction of the thread cartridge, thereby slackening the thread, after which the handle is removed from the thread cartridge. The loop of the thread cartridge is then tightened around the skin tag and stops the supply of nutrients to it. The thread cartridge is left at the skin tag and falls off when the skin tag eventually loosens from the skin. It should be mentioned here that the thread cartridge is intended to form part of the device.

It should be mentioned here that the device is arranged to apply a tightened thread loop around a skin tag which has a narrow base so that the thread loop can be effectively applied around the skin tag without sliding away from it. For this reason, the device should be used only for the removal of skin tags (acrochorda) including also teardrop-shaped birthmarks and old age warts (seborrheic keratosis).

A spring inside the handle abuts a rear wall of the handle and presses against the other end of the piston so that the piston is pressed with a predetermined force against the opening in the front end of the handle. In this way a counterforce can be sensed by the user when the user withdraws the piston by moving the thumb grip backwards to tension the thread loop.

The thread cartridge is a pre-formed part which comprises a thread which at its front end has a tightenable loop when the rear part of the thread is pulled through a loop knot in front of which the loop is formed. At its rear end, the thread is provided with a knob being attached to the end of the thread. This knob is placed inside the wall of the carrier, whereby the thread is pulled into the handle when the piston is moved backwards from its base position. Around the thread, between the loop in its front part and the knob in its rear part, a hollow cylinder is arranged, where a through-hole is arranged along its axis. The thread of the thread cartridge can be displaced longitudinally along the through hole.

The carrier in the piston is arranged with a slot in its front wall. The purpose of this slot when loading the tool with the thread cartridge is to be able to insert the thread knob behind the wall of the carrier and to ensure that the thread can be advanced inside the slot and stretched mainly along the longitudinal axis of the handle in front of the handle.

The handle is at the far end of its front end equipped with a clamp with wings that has a longitudinal extension along the handle. When the thread cartridge is loaded to the handle and its piston, the cylinder is pressed down between said wings and becoming hold in position by the wings. Furthermore, a lug is formed next to the clamp behind it, whereby the cylinder cannot slide backwards when tensioning the thread in the thread cartridge when the piston is moved backwards, since the cylinder is stopped by the lug. As a result, each movement backwards of the thumb grip will bring the piston with its carrier backwards and then tighten the loop by pulling thread inwards into the handle.

The device has characteristics according to the features specified in claim <NUM>. Further embodiments of the invention are presented in the dependent claims.

In the following, a number of embodiments of the invention are described with reference to the accompanying drawings. The drawings show only schematically the principle of the device and do not claim to show to any scale any proportions between different elements thereof.

By reference to <FIG>, the tool <NUM> according to the aspect of the invention is shown. The tool has a handle <NUM> which consists of a hollow cylindrical body. Cylindrical means any type of cylinder that has a cross section with a closed curve. In the simplest embodiment, the handle <NUM> is circular-cylindrical. At its front end <NUM>, the handle has a front wall <NUM> with an opening <NUM> which is an oblique cut-out across the handle housing next to the central longitudinal axis of the handle. At the rear end of the handle <NUM> this has a rear wall <NUM>. The handle <NUM> has inside a cylindrical longitudinal cavity with preferably the same shape as the outside of the handle. A piston <NUM> is arranged in this cavity. This piston is arranged to have an external shape corresponding to the shape of the cavity, wherein the piston <NUM> can run longitudinally inside the handle <NUM>. The piston <NUM> can be solid or designed hollow in a corresponding manner as the handle. The piston <NUM> is shorter than the cylindrical cavity of the handle. Between the piston <NUM> and the rear wall <NUM> of the handle, a spring <NUM>, for example a helical spring, is arranged. The piston <NUM> is thus displaceable from a base position, where the first end <NUM> of the piston abuts against the front wall <NUM> of the handle <NUM>, to a position rearwards where the spring <NUM> is completely compressed. The spring <NUM> abuts against a second end 7a, i.e. towards the rear end of the piston <NUM>.

The thread cartridge <NUM> of the device is shown in detail in <FIG>. It appears that the thread cartridge has a thread <NUM> which is attached to a knob <NUM> at the rear. The thread <NUM> can run freely in a thread channel longitudinally through the hollow cylinder <NUM>. At the front the thread <NUM> is formed into a tightenable loop <NUM>. The loop knot <NUM> for the loop is glimpsed at the front of the cylinder <NUM>. The loop knot <NUM> cannot be pulled into the cylinder <NUM>, since a constriction (see <FIG>) inside the thread channel in the cylinder prevents this. Thus, if the knob <NUM> is moved backwards while the cylinder <NUM> is held still, the loop <NUM> will be tightened against the loop knot <NUM>.

The piston <NUM> is clearly shown in <FIG>. Here it is shown with a thumb grip <NUM>. This thumb grip has closest to the body of the piston <NUM> an elongate bracket which can run along an elongate gap <NUM> along the housing of the handle <NUM> in its longitudinal direction, the thumb grip thus being located on the outside of the handle <NUM> housing. Thus, when the piston <NUM> is located inside the cavity of the handle <NUM>, the piston <NUM> can be moved by means of the thumb grip <NUM> along the gap <NUM> backwards against the spring <NUM> and compress this, whereby a counterforce against the movement of the thumb grip is achieved. At the front of the piston <NUM> at its front end, a carrier <NUM> is arranged. This carrier <NUM> consists of a wall <NUM> which comprises an elongate slot <NUM> which opens into a hole <NUM> in the wall <NUM> of the piston. When loading a thread cartridge <NUM> in the handle <NUM>, the knob <NUM> is inserted through the hole <NUM> so that the knob <NUM> ends up behind the wall <NUM> while the thread is lowered into the gap <NUM>, whereby the thread <NUM> can be pulled backwards and into the handle <NUM> when the piston <NUM> is moved backwards with the thumb grip <NUM>.

The loading of a thread cartridge <NUM> to the handle <NUM> is most clearly shown in <FIG>. The knob <NUM> of the thread cartridge is inserted through the hole <NUM> so that the knob <NUM> ends up behind the wall <NUM> in the piston <NUM> carrier <NUM>. The thread in front of the knob <NUM> is lowered into the slot <NUM>. The cylinder <NUM> is pressed down between the wings <NUM> at the foremost part of the handle <NUM>. The wings <NUM> thereby form a clamp <NUM> which holds the cylinder <NUM> in position when a thread cartridge is loaded to the handle. Here it is also ensured that the rear wall of the cylinder <NUM> is arranged in front of an abutment in the form of a lug <NUM>. As a result, the cylinder <NUM> surrounding the thread <NUM> cannot be moved backwards when the piston <NUM> carrier <NUM> stretches the thread while the piston <NUM> is displaced backwards by means of the thumb grip <NUM>.

After charging a thread cartridge <NUM> to the handle <NUM>, a pre-formed thread loop <NUM> is brought in over a skin tag to be removed from the skin of a client. This can of course also be done by the client himself. The thread loop <NUM> is laid around the skin tag at its base. After this the thumb grip <NUM> is displaced backwards along the handle. As a result, as shown above, the thread loop will be tightened around the skin tag. An advantage of this tool is that it can be handled with just one hand by one user.

In <FIG> it is shown how the thread cartridge <NUM> is detached from the handle <NUM>. By the user releasing the grip on the handle <NUM>, the thread <NUM> in the thread cartridge is slackened, since the spring <NUM> then pushes the piston <NUM> inside the handle <NUM> forwards. The user tilts at a large angle, as a suggestion <NUM> to <NUM> degrees, up the handle from the skin <NUM> and suitably presses the front part of the handle against the skin <NUM> on which the skin tag <NUM> is located and pulls the front part of the handle in the direction away from the skin tag. As a result, the cylinder <NUM> of the thread cartridge is detached from the clamp <NUM> and the thread <NUM> together with the knob <NUM> slides out of the carrier <NUM> due to the inclination of the handle in relation to the longitudinal direction of the thread <NUM> closest to the skin <NUM>.

After detaching the handle from the thread cartridge, the thread cartridge <NUM> can remain at the skin tag <NUM> until it falls off. However, if so desired, the thread <NUM> can be cut off outside the loop knot <NUM> of the thread loop <NUM>.

Claim 1:
A device for applying a thread loop around a skin tag (<NUM>), the device comprising a thread cartridge (<NUM>) arranged to be connected to a tool (<NUM>) having a hollow cylindrical handle (<NUM>) with a piston (<NUM>) runningly arranged inside the handle, the piston (<NUM>) having a first end (<NUM>) which in a base position of the piston abuts to an opening (<NUM>) in a front end (<NUM>) of the handle, where the device comprises
- a thumb grip (<NUM>) is attached to the piston (<NUM>) and arranged accessible from the outside of the handle via a slot (<NUM>) in the handle (<NUM>) whereby the piston (<NUM>) is displaceable from its base position along the interior of the handle (<NUM>),
- the piston (<NUM>) has at its first end (<NUM>) a carrier (<NUM>) to which an inner end of said thread cartridge (<NUM>) is arranged to be connected,
- a thread loop (<NUM>) at an outer end of the thread cartridge (<NUM>) is arranged to be laid around the skin tag (<NUM>),
- wherein the piston (<NUM>) is configured to be displaced from the base position by means of the thumb grip (<NUM>) to pull together the thread loop (<NUM>) around the skin tag (<NUM>),
- the thread cartridge (<NUM>) is arranged to be detached from the carrier (<NUM>) by releasing the thumb grip (<NUM>) whereby the thread (<NUM>) of the thread cartridge can be detached from the carrier (<NUM>).