Patent ID: 7914523

Claim:
A method of non-ablative, non-thermal photoactivation of procollagen or photoinhibition of collagenase in the dermis of mammalian skin, comprising the steps of: setting an overheating temperature for the mammalian skin to be one of about 2° C., about 0.5° C., and about 0.1° C. over a mammalian skin temperature; irradiating the dermis with a first pulse having a power density of at least about 10 mW/cm 2 and at most about 1000 mW/cm 2 ; irradiating the dermis with a second pulse; emitting the first pulse for a duration of about 100 μs to 5 ms; separating the first pulse from the second pulse by an inter-pulse interval of about 10 μs to about 10 ms; emitting a first pulse train; and separating the first pulse train from a second pulse train by an inter-pulse train interval of about 1 microsecond to about 1 second, wherein each pulse train includes the first pulse and the second pulse, and wherein the inter-pulse train interval is greater than the inter-pulse interval; whereby irradiating the dermis with the pulse trains causes the photoactivation of procollagen or photoinhibition of collagenase in said dermis of said mammalian skin; and whereby irradiating the dermis maintains the mammalian skin temperature at or below the overheating temperature.