Patent ID: 7643883

Claim:
A method for treating a skin surface region and a tissue volume under a skin surface region of an individual, said method comprising, for each of one or more locations in the region of the skin surface: (a) applying a first electrode and a second electrode to the skin surface, first and second electrodes being spaced apart by a fixed distance L, at least the first electrode being applied to the location in the skin region; (b) providing from the electrodes a continuous wave RF energy or a quasi-continuous wave RF energy to the tissue volume at the location, the RF energy having a power selected to heat the tissue volume at the location to the final temperature in an amount of time exceeding 0.5 sec; and (c) displacing the first and second electrodes over the skin surface at a displacement speed given by an algebraic expression V=P/LdcρΔT, where P is the power of the RF current, d is a penetration depth of the RE energy, c is a specific heat of the treated tissue, p is a mass density of the tissue, and ΔT is the required temperature increase.