Patent ID: 8430920

Claim:
A method of reducing eye bags and/or wrinkles, comprising: inserting an elongated shaft having at least one piercing tip having between a 20 and 30 gauge diameter into an eyelid of a subject and into a tissue region of interest comprising fat underlying the skin surface such that bleeding is inhibited from the skin surface and tissue region surrounding the piercing tip; advancing a terminal end of at least one optical fiber into the tissue region of interest within or along the piercing tip; altering a position of the terminal end of the optical fiber relative to the piercing tip while the piercing tip remains stationary such that the piercing tip is positioned proximate to the tissue region of interest; conducting an electrical current along the elongate shaft towards the piercing tip and into the tissue region and monitoring for a presence of twitching of the tissue region as an indication of a nerve being in proximity to the elongate shaft; and, if twitching of the tissue region is observed, applying laser energy controlled via a controller to deliver pulsed laser energy having a wavelength of between 600 to 1900 nm for a controlled period of time such that at least some of the laser energy from the optical fiber impinges upon and heats the shaft such that tissue reduction and/or necrosis is induced in the fat within the tissue region.