Patent ID: 8870856

Claim:
A method for tightening skin, comprising: generating a broadband spectrum of near infrared radiation with a filament light source, said broadband spectrum continuously covering a range of at least 1050 nm to 1850 nm; filtering out radiation from the broadband spectrum below 1050 nm and above 1850 to produce a spectrum having a wavelength band consisting essentially of radiation covering 1050 nm and 1850 nm; placing a transmissive material in contact with an upper surface of the skin to be treated; transmitting the filtered radiation generated by the light source through the transmissive material to the skin; cooling the transmissive material; and wherein the radiation transmitted to the skin and the cooling of the transmissive material create an inverted temperature profile in the skin, such that the upper surface of the skin is cooler than an area of skin below the upper surface, and wherein the radiation is transmitted to the skin for a continuous period of time of between approximately 1.2 (one and two-tenths) seconds and 5 (five) seconds and provides for heating a volume of dermis in the skin, which is at a depth of between 1 mm to 5 mm below the upper surface of the skin, to a treatment temperature which is at least 50° C. while maintaining the regions of the dermis at depths shallower than 1 mm at temperatures below the treatment temperature, wherein the skin is tightened as a result of heating the volume of dermis.