TWI702038B - System for facilitating hair growth - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a system for facilitating hair growth. The system for facilitating hair growth includes a stimulating unit and a sensing unit. The sensing unit includes a colorimetric element. A target region is stimulated by the stimulating unit. The stopping point of the stimulating unit is determined according to the colorimetric values of the target region measured by the colorimetric element after the stimulating step. After the target region is treated with the system, the surface of the target region turns red, subcutaneously blood clot or bruised without bleeding. The growth of new hairs is enhanced in the target region for a period of time, and the hair widths of newly grown hairs are equivalent to the original ones.

Description

Promote hair growth system

The present invention relates to a system for promoting hair growth, in particular to a system for promoting hair growth using a microneedle device.

Androgenetic alopecia (androgenetic alopecia, AGA) is a common cause of hair loss in men and women, and patients usually have thinner and thinner hair in the affected area. To reduce AGA hair loss, in addition to oral medications finasteride, hair transplant surgery, topical liniment minoxidil or a combination of the above methods, in recent years, microneedle rollers and drugs have also been used to stimulate the scalp Hair growth.

The aforementioned microneedle roller refers to a roller with a needle body with a sharp end. The microneedle roller can be manually rolled on the scalp in parallel and back and forth. However, if the microneedle roller is manually rolled, the needle body is thicker, causing deeper wounds on the skin, and in the process of rolling back and forth, it is easy to twist or shift the needle body on the scalp, forming wounds and wounds on the skin surface. Blood oozing can easily cause wound infection.

In addition, the use of microneedle rollers with drugs to stimulate hair growth requires the use of external hair growth agents, which may cause side effects of hypotension or cause allergic reactions such as itching for some users. However, the use of roller stimulation alone cannot promote hair growth.

In view of this, it is urgent to provide a hair growth promotion system to solve the above problems.

Therefore, one aspect of the present invention is to provide a hair growth promotion system, which includes a microneedle device with a blunt needle and a higher average needle density. The microneedle device can be used without a discharge element and/or without When the pharmaceutical composition is used together, it can still provide enough stimulation to the irritated area to ensure that the treated surface is reddened to bruise or blood stasis in the skin but does not ooze blood.

According to the above aspect of the present invention, a system for promoting hair growth is proposed. In one embodiment, the aforementioned hair growth promotion system includes a stimulation unit and a sensing unit. The stimulus unit acts on the target area, and the sensing unit includes a chromaticity measuring element. The stimulation unit determines the stop time point of stimulation according to the chromaticity measurement value measured by the aforementioned chromaticity measuring element in the target area.

According to the above-mentioned embodiments of the present invention, the above-mentioned stimulation unit may include a microneedle device.

According to the above-mentioned embodiment of the present invention, the needle density of the aforementioned microneedle device may be, for example, 100 to 300 needles per square centimeter.

According to the above-mentioned embodiment of the present invention, the width of the tip of the above-mentioned microneedle device may be at least 30 microns, for example.

According to the above-mentioned embodiment of the present invention, the above-mentioned sensing unit may optionally include a temperature measuring element, and the above-mentioned stimulating unit determines the stimulus stop time point according to the above-mentioned chromaticity measurement value and the temperature measurement value measured by the aforementioned temperature measuring element in the target area.

According to the above-mentioned embodiment of the present invention, in the above-mentioned hair growth promotion system, the above-mentioned stimulation unit may optionally include a light source, and the wavelength of the light source may be, for example, between 400 nm and 2000 nm.

Using the hair growth promotion system of the present invention, by measuring the color measurement value of the surface of the target area after treatment, it can ensure that the treated surface is red to bruise or blood stasis in the skin but does not ooze blood. The effect of hair proliferation in the target area, and the width of new hair is equivalent to the original hair.

100: Promote the hair growth system

110: stimulation unit

120: sensing unit

122: Chromaticity measuring element

200: method

201/203/205/207/209: Step

301: Connect

303: bottom line

305/307/309/311: circular area

701/703/705/707/709/711/713/715: Arrow

T1/T2/801: target area

C1/C2/803: control area

In order to make the above and other objects, features, advantages and embodiments of the present invention more comprehensible, detailed descriptions of the accompanying drawings are as follows: [FIG. 1] A block diagram of a hair growth promotion system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Figure 2] is a flow chart showing a method of using the hair growth promotion system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Figure 3] is a schematic diagram of the skin divisions on the back of a mouse according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Figure 4] is a graph showing the relationship between the average needle length and the temperature difference of the target area according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Figure 5] is a bar graph showing the average needle length and the color difference (ΔE) of the target area before and after the stimulation step according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Figure 6A] to [Figure 6D] are photos of the appearance of hair growth of mice in the first treatment group according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

[Fig. 7A] to [Fig. 7H] are mice in the first treatment group (aged 6 to 8 weeks old) according to the second embodiment of the present invention on the 12th day after the stimulation step (Fig. 7A and Fig. 7B), Photos of hair growth on day 100 (Figure 7C and Figure 7D), day 200 (Figure 7E and Figure 7F), and day 300 (Figure 7G and Figure 7H).

[Figure 8] is a stained image of a tissue section of a mouse's skin and hair follicles on the 300th day after the stimulation step according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Figure 9] is a bar graph showing the hair width of the first treatment group according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In summary, the present invention provides a hair growth promotion system, which includes a stimulation unit and a sensing unit.

In one embodiment, the above-mentioned stimulation unit is a microneedle device with a blunt needle of the pointer body and a higher average needle density. The aforementioned microneedle device is a microneedle device with an average depth of the pointer body entering the skin of 0.2 mm to 3 mm, and an average needle body density of 100 to 300 needles per square centimeter.

In one embodiment, the above-mentioned microneedle device can ensure that the treated surface is red to bruise or intradermal stasis but does not ooze blood without connecting the discharge element and/or without using the pharmaceutical composition. The hair growth of the target area after the stimulation treatment makes the width of the new hair equal to the original hair.

The aforementioned discharge element is a device or element that provides continuous or intermittent alternating current or direct current, and may, for example, provide a sine wave, pulse wave, or modulated wave. The microneedle device of the present invention can exclude the connection to the discharge element, and can avoid the use of special physiological conditions (such as suffering from epilepsy, pregnancy or electronic medical equipment on the body). User side effects due to electrical stimulation.

The aforementioned pharmaceutical composition refers to a form in which an effective ingredient for reducing hair fall or an effective ingredient for providing hair growth is mixed and formulated with a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier. For example, a pharmaceutical composition containing minoxidil, To avoid side effects such as allergies or wound infections.

The target area in the present invention refers to the specific skin surface of the human body or animal, and generally refers to the area where the hair follicles are sparsely distributed. After the skin of the wound system index area of the present invention is processed by the stimulation step, a very superficial opening, redness and bruise or blood stasis in the skin is formed on the skin surface, and it can heal quickly.

The average needle length in the present invention refers to the actual length of the needle on the microneedle device. The average depth of the wound in the present invention refers to the average depth of the pointer body into the skin. In the actual operation process, the microneedle body does not necessarily penetrate the skin completely, so the actual length of the needle body can be less than, equal to or greater than the average depth of the wound.

The hair proliferation in the present invention refers to the state where the hair enters the anagen phase from the telogen phase of the growth cycle, so that the hair is proliferated on the skin surface.

Please refer to FIG. 1, which is a block diagram of a hair growth promotion system according to an embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the hair growth promotion system 100 may include a stimulation unit 110 and a sensing unit 120.

In the aforementioned embodiment, the aforementioned stimulation unit 110 acts on the target area. In one embodiment, the stimulation unit 110 includes a microneedle device, and the microneedle device acts on the target area. The microneedle device may include multiple needle bodies. In one embodiment, the average needle density of the microneedle device can be, for example, 100 to 300 needles per square centimeter, but preferably 100 to 200 needles per square centimeter, so that the target area Sufficient stimulation. In a specific example, the average needle density of the microneedle device may be, for example, 172 needles per square centimeter. It is explained here that if the average needle density of the microneedle device is less than 100 needles per square centimeter, the wound density formed by the hair growth-promoting system 100 in the target area is low, and sufficient stimulation cannot be generated to promote hair growth. If the average needle density of the microneedle device is greater than 300 needles per square centimeter, too dense openings may increase the risk of infection.

In one embodiment, the average depth of the wound caused by the needle body entering the skin is 0.2 mm to 3 mm. When the average depth of the wound caused by the microneedle device entering the skin is less than 0.2mm, it will not be able to deepen the dermis to produce enough stimulation, and the subsequent induction of hair growth will be poor. When the average depth of the wound caused by the microneedle entering the skin is greater than 3mm, the depth of the wound is too deep, and it is easy to damage the dermis, subcutaneous tissue and muscle tissue, thereby increasing the risk of bleeding or infection.

It is supplemented that the needle of the needle body of the aforementioned microneedle device may be, for example, a blunt end, for example, the width of the needle tip (viewed from a side view) is at least 30 microns, preferably 30 to 150 microns, and It is more preferably from 50 microns to 120 microns. Therefore, when the stimulation unit 110 provides a reciprocating and stable force to stimulate the target area in the vertical direction or the horizontal direction, the processed target area can be reddened to bruise or intradermal stasis but not blood oozing. If the width of the needle tip is less than 30 microns, the target area is likely to cause bleeding wounds due to the stimulation of the microneedle device.

In another embodiment, the stimulation unit 110 may optionally include a driving unit. The driving unit is electrically connected to the micro-needle device to provide the micro-needle device to apply vertical or horizontal reciprocating and stable stimulation relative to the target area. In the above embodiment, the application frequency and application times of the driving unit are not limited, so as to cause the target area after the stimulation step to be red to the skin, but not to ooze. The principle is that blood does not cause the microneedle device to twist or shift the opening of the skin. The driving unit may have an application frequency ranging from 3000 times per minute to 25000 times per minute. In one embodiment, the driving unit provides an application frequency ranging from 8000 times per minute to 20000 times per minute or an application frequency ranging from 10000 times per minute to 18000 times per minute. More preferably, the driving unit provides at least 6000 times per minute. With frequency of application, one or more stimulation treatments are applied to the target area to form the target area with wounds. Compared with the conventional manually rolling microneedle roller, the hair stimulation system of the present invention can produce wounds with appropriate density and depth after treating the target area under the above-mentioned conditions, causing skin redness to bruising or intradermal blood stasis but not Oozing.

In one embodiment, the appearance of the microneedle device is not limited, and it can be determined according to requirements or the surface shape of the target area. In this embodiment, the number of microneedle devices is not limited, for example, one or more. When the number of microneedle devices is multiple, the microneedle device can combine multiple microneedle devices according to the surface shape of the target area to conform to the surface shape, thereby providing treatments with consistent stimulation intensity and opening depth.

In one embodiment, the stimulation unit 110 of the hair growth promotion system 100 of the present invention may optionally include a light source (not shown in the figure). In one embodiment, the wavelength of the light source can range from blue light to infrared light, such as 400 nm to 2000 nm, where blue light can inhibit the growth of epidermal spores and acne bacteria; red light can promote hair growth. Alternatively, in one embodiment, the stimulation unit 110 may optionally include a blue light source and a red light source, wherein the wavelength of the blue light source is between 400 nm and 495 nm, and the wavelength of the infrared light source is between 760 nm and 1500 nm. In a specific embodiment, the light source includes an LED lamp. Alternatively, in a specific embodiment, the stimulation unit 120 includes a photodynamic therapy device. The aforementioned photodynamic therapy uses a photosensitizer to stimulate light of a specific wavelength. The hair produces energy level changes and releases energy. This energy is transferred to the oxygen molecules in the cell to form a chemical reaction, thus causing a specific effect on the tissue or cell. The above-mentioned light source of specific wavelength can be used in conjunction with the microneedle device to treat the target area, which can further enhance the effect of hair growth. In a specific example, the position of the light source 136 is not limited, and it can be adjacent to at least one side of the microneedle device, can also be integrated in the stimulation unit, or additionally attached to the outside of the stimulation unit.

It is added that when the hair stimulation system of the present invention acts on the target area to be stimulated, the microneedle device may not use the discharge element and/or the pharmaceutical composition to stimulate the target area. Therefore, when the hair growth promotion system 100 of the present invention is applied to users with special physiological conditions (such as epilepsy, pregnancy, or electronic medical equipment), it can avoid the side effects of electrical and/or drug stimulation on the user. .

Please continue to refer to FIG. 1, the sensing unit 120 is used to obtain specific parameters of the skin of the target area to determine whether the intensity of the stimulation is sufficient. The above-mentioned sensing unit 120 includes a chromaticity measuring element 122, and the chromaticity measurement value measured by the chromaticity measuring element 122 in the target area can be used to determine when the stimulation unit 110 stops. In another embodiment, the sensing unit 120 may further optionally include a temperature measuring element. In this embodiment, the sensing unit 120 may determine according to the chromaticity measurement value and/or temperature measurement value measured in the target area The time when the stimulation of the stimulation unit 110 stops. It should be noted that the above-mentioned chromaticity measurement value can be a single measurement value or multiple measurement values after data processing; similarly, the temperature measurement value can be a single measurement value or multiple measurement values after data processing. The result obtained. For example, the chromaticity measurement value may be the chromaticity value of the skin of the target area after being stimulated by the stimulation unit 110. Alternatively, the chromaticity measurement value may be the chromaticity value obtained by subtracting the chromaticity values before and after stimulation by the stimulation unit 110 of the skin of the target area.

In one embodiment, the sensing unit 120 can measure the chromaticity measurement value and/or the temperature measurement value of the skin of the target area processed by the stimulation unit, and compare the measurement value with a preset value to determine whether the stimulation intensity is enough. In another embodiment, the sensing unit 120 can respectively measure the chromaticity measurement value and/or the temperature measurement value before and after the skin of the target area is stimulated by the stimulation unit 110, and obtain the color difference value or the temperature difference value after calculation, and then The difference is compared with the preset value to determine whether the intensity of the stimulation is sufficient. Although the difference value is used as an example to determine the stimulus intensity in the following embodiments, the implementation of this case is not limited to this.

Please refer to FIG. 2, which shows a flowchart of a method of using a hair growth promotion system according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the method 200, first, step 201 is performed to provide the hair growth promotion system of the present invention. The hair growth promotion system includes a sensing unit and a stimulation unit.

Next, proceed to step 203, using the stimulation unit to perform a stimulation step on the target area. In one embodiment, the stimulation unit is made to contact the target area with a specific application frequency, and the number of stimulations is not limited, and the principle of causing the processed target area to be red to bruise or intradermal stasis without bleeding. In a specific embodiment, the application frequency of the aforementioned stimulation unit can be, for example, 3000 times per minute to 25000 times per minute. In a specific embodiment, the target area after the above-mentioned stimulation step forms a plurality of superficial wounds, and the average depth of these wounds into the skin is 0.2 mm to 3 mm. In a specific embodiment, the average density of such wounds can be, for example, 100 to 300 wounds per square centimeter.

It is supplemented that the above-mentioned target area may not be subjected to electrical treatment and/or treatment with pharmaceutical composition. Electrical treatment refers to connecting the aforementioned discharge element to the target area to form a closed loop, so that current passes through the target area. Pharmaceutical composition treatment refers to administering the aforementioned pharmaceutical composition to the target area at a suitable dose.

Next, in step 205, the sensing unit is used to measure the parameter value of the target area. In an embodiment, the sensing unit can measure the parameter value of the target area processed by the stimulation step. Then, proceed to step 207 to determine whether the parameter value is greater than the preset value. In one embodiment, when it is determined that the parameter value is greater than the preset value, which is the time when the stimulation stops, then step 209 is performed, and then the stimulation step is stopped.

It should be noted that the parameter value may include one or several monitoring parameters, for example: chromaticity measurement value and/or temperature measurement value, and the corresponding threshold value may be defined according to each monitoring parameter. As mentioned above, the aforementioned chromaticity measurement value and/or temperature measurement value can be a single measurement value or multiple measurement values obtained after data processing.

In an embodiment, when the sensing unit is the aforementioned chromaticity measuring element, the parameter value is the chromaticity measurement value. In this embodiment, the sensing unit can be used to measure the first chromaticity value of the target area before the stimulation step (step 203), and the sensing unit can be used to measure the target area after the stimulation step (step 203). The second chromaticity value, and the chromaticity measurement value can be the color difference value (ΔE) between the first chromaticity value and the second chromaticity value. At this time, the preset value may be the first threshold value to determine the stop time point of the stimulation, where the first threshold value varies depending on the processing object.

Please refer to Table 1, which is a comparison table of the measured color difference values of different treatment objects under the same stimulus amount. The same amount of stimulation mentioned above means that the same amount of stimulation is provided The average depth of the wound and the same number of stimulations. For example, when the processing object is a human, the first threshold may be 1.0; however, when the processing object is a mouse, the first threshold may be 2.5, for example. In these embodiments, when the color difference value (ΔE) is less than or equal to the first threshold value, the stimulation intensity given by the stimulation unit is insufficient. In an embodiment, when the color difference value (ΔE) is greater than the first threshold value, the stimulation intensity given by the stimulation unit is sufficient. That is, the target area is stimulated by the stimulation unit to change the skin color, and the chromaticity measuring element measures the chromaticity measurement values of the target area before and after the stimulation step to determine when the stimulation stops.

In an embodiment, when the sensing unit is the aforementioned temperature measuring element, the parameter value is a temperature measurement value. In this embodiment, the sensing unit can be used to measure the first temperature value of the target area before the stimulation step (step 203), and the sensing unit can be used to measure the first temperature value of the target area after the stimulation step (step 203) is processed. Two temperature values, and the temperature measurement value is the temperature difference (△T) between the first temperature value and the second temperature value. At this time, the preset value is the second threshold value to determine when the stimulus stops. The second threshold value varies depending on the processing object.

Please refer to Table 1 again, which is a comparison table of temperature differences measured by different treatment subjects under the same stimulus amount. When the treatment target is a human, the second threshold may be, for example, 0.2°C; however, when the treatment target is a mouse, the second threshold may be, for example, 0.7°C. In these embodiments, when the temperature difference (ΔT) is less than or equal to the second threshold value, the stimulation intensity given by the stimulation unit is insufficient. In an embodiment, when the temperature difference (ΔT) is greater than the second threshold value, the stimulation intensity given by the stimulation unit is sufficient. In one embodiment, the chromaticity measurement element and the temperature measurement element may be used together to obtain the chromaticity measurement value and the temperature measurement value of the target area, so as to determine the stop time of the stimulation.

In one embodiment, the hair growth promotion system may optionally include a processing unit, and the step of using the processing unit to determine whether the aforementioned parameter value is greater than a preset value can be performed by a conventional processing unit. For example, the first chromaticity value and the second chromaticity value measured by the sensing unit can be input to the processing unit, and the processing unit can calculate the color difference between the first chromaticity value and the second chromaticity value, and determine Is it greater than the preset value.

In another embodiment, in step 207, when it is determined that the parameter value is less than or equal to the preset value, step 203 is repeated at least once.

In other embodiments, in step 203, the stimulation step can selectively perform illumination processing on the target area simultaneously or sequentially, wherein the wavelength of the light source for the illumination processing can be, for example, 400 nm to 2000 nm.

The use of the hair growth promotion system of the present invention and the method of using this system to treat the target area can ensure that the skin surface of the target area is reddened to bruise or blood stasis in the skin after the stimulation step, but does not ooze blood, and promotes skin hair Hyperplasia, and make the width of new hair equal to the original hair.

Several embodiments are used below to illustrate the application of the present invention, but they are not used to limit the present invention. Those with ordinary knowledge in the technical field of the present invention can make various changes and modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Retouch.

Example 1: Promote hair growth system

This embodiment provides a hair growth promotion system, which includes a sensing unit and a stimulation unit. The following points are described.

The above-mentioned sensing unit is a chroma meter (Minolta, Chroma meter CR-200, Japan) to monitor the skin of the target area of the mouse. Before and after the stimulation of the irritation unit, the skin color is caused by redness to bruising or blood stasis in the skin. The color difference value (ΔE) that produces the color change can provide a first criterion for judging whether the stimulation given by the stimulation unit is sufficient (also called the first threshold value).

The above-mentioned sensing unit is also equipped with a thermocouple (TC) temperature sensor (National Instruments, NI Crio-9211, USA), in addition to confirming that the body temperature of the anesthetized mouse is maintained at 37°C to 38°C, it can also be used By measuring the temperature changes of the mouse skin before and after stimulation, it can provide a second criterion (also called the second threshold value) for judging whether the stimulation given by the stimulation unit is sufficient.

In the above embodiment, the stimulation unit is a microneedle stimulation unit, which includes a commercially available electric microneedle kit (trade name such as Dr. Pen, JZ-0510, CHINA), which includes a drive unit and a microneedle device (Dr. Pen, CHINA) ). The needle density of the microneedle device is that a circle with a diameter of 1 cm contains 135 needles, that is, the average needle density is 172 needles per square centimeter.

The stimulation unit may further include a light source, and the light source is adjacent to at least one side of the microneedle device. The light source is a conventional light source with a wavelength of 400 nm to 2000 nm, which is well known to those with ordinary knowledge in the technical field to which the present invention belongs, and will not be repeated.

The aforementioned hair growth promotion system may further include a processing unit, which is a conventional controller, electrically connected to the sensing unit and the stimulation unit, so as to determine the sensing The difference between the parameter values measured by the unit determines the stop time of the stimulation unit. Since the processing unit is well-known to those with ordinary knowledge in the technical field of the present invention, it will not be repeated.

Example 2: Using animal evaluation mode

1. Create an animal model

The hair growth cycle of mice is similar to that of humans and is divided into growth phase (anagen), decay phase (catagen) and telogen phase (telogen). The mice entered the resting period from the hair decay period at the 42nd day (the 6th week) after birth, and entered the hair growth period from the resting period at the 49th day (the 7th week). Therefore, mice aged 42 to 49 days are more suitable for observing hair growth.

The mice of this example used C57BL/6 male mice aged 42 to 49 days to conduct experiments to evaluate the effect of promoting hair growth system on hair regeneration. This mouse was purchased from the Laboratory Animal Center of the National Cheng Kung University School of Medicine, and followed the key points set by the National Cheng Kung University Laboratory Animal Care and Use Committee and the relevant regulations of the Taiwan Animal Protection Law, and all experiments were carried out under anesthesia.

2. Pre-treatment

The aforementioned back hair of the mouse is first removed with hair removal cream or shaving, so that the hair follicles that have entered the long-term hair growth period return to the resting period to simulate the state of male baldness. Generally speaking, hair follicles enter the growth phase from the resting phase on the 7th day of hair removal, and enter the decline phase from the growth phase on the 18th day.

In order to prevent the anesthetized mice from losing temperature, this embodiment uses a constant temperature insulation system to maintain the body temperature of the mice at 37°C to 38°C stably during the experiment.

Next, the back skin of the depilated mouse was divided into several areas. Please refer to FIG. 3, which is a schematic diagram of the skin division of the back of a mouse according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Figure 3, the line from the nose to the tail on the back of the mouse is taken as the Y-axis, and the bottom line 303 is made by connecting the ears 301 and the parallel ears 301 through the junction of the tail and the body. The middle line between the line 301 and the bottom line 303 draws the X axis perpendicular to the Y axis, so the back of the mouse is divided into four areas, namely four quadrants. Further take the center points of the four quadrants as the center of the circle to define a circular area with a radius of 0.5 cm. At this time, the back of the mouse has four circular areas 305, a circular area 307, a circular area 309, and a circular area 311 with a radius of 0.5 cm. The four circled areas can be designated as target areas or control areas. The target area is the stimulation area for promoting the hair growth system of the present invention.

3. Irritating to the skin

During the stimulation step, the mice were divided into a first treatment group, a second treatment group, and a third treatment group, each with 10 mice.

As shown in FIG. 3, one of the circular area 305 and the circular area 309 near the head and the circular area 307 and the circular area 311 near the tail is selected as the target area on the back of the mouse, and the other is In order to control the area, in order to reduce the influence of the time sequence difference between the front and back of the mouse body. For example, in the circular area near the head, the circular area 305 is selected as the target area, and the circular area 309 is the control area; in the circular area near the tail, the circular area 307 is selected as the target area. 311 is the control area. Use the microneedle stimulation unit of Example 1 on the target area to vertically press down on the target area for 60 seconds at a frequency of 12,000 times per minute. After stopping for 20 seconds, it is regarded as one stimulation, and a total of 3 to 5 stimulations are administered. , The control area does not give any stimulation.

Secondly, when performing the stimulation step, use the average needle length as The 2mm microneedle stimulation unit was used to stimulate the mice in the first treatment group for 5 times; the microneedle stimulation unit with an average needle length of 1mm was used to stimulate the mice in the second treatment group 3 times; the average needle body was used The microneedle stimulation unit with a length of 0 mm gave 3 rounds of stimulation to the mice in the third treatment group. After the above-mentioned stimulation treatment, the average depth of the wound caused by the needle body entering the skin is 0.2mm to 3mm, and the target area has redness to intradermal stasis but no bleeding.

4. Measure the chromaticity difference of the target area

After the target area undergoes the above-mentioned stimulation steps, the skin surface changes due to bruising or intradermal blood stasis and redness. Using the colorimeter of Example 1, the mouse is measured in the circular area 305 and the circular area 307 in Figure 3 The chromaticity difference between the circular area 309 and the circular area 311 is used to evaluate whether the intensity of the stimulation unit is sufficient.

Before the mouse is stimulated by the stimulating unit, the colorimeter is used to obtain the first color parameters of the circular area 305, the circular area 307, the circular area 309, and the circular area 311. After the mouse is stimulated by the stimulation unit, the colorimeter is used to obtain the second color parameters of the circular area 305, the circular area 307, the circular area 309, and the circular area 311. Then, the difference between the first color parameter and the second color parameter is calculated to obtain the color difference value (ΔE), thereby determining whether the stimulation given by the stimulation unit is sufficient. This embodiment uses the following formula (I) to calculate the color difference value (△E):

In formula (I), L represents brightness, a represents red/green, and b represents yellow/blue.

5. The temperature difference between the length of the needle body and the target area

The above-mentioned mouse skin was stimulated by the microneedle device to produce wounds, which caused local blood circulation to increase and skin temperature to rise. Therefore, in this embodiment, the temperature sensor of the first embodiment is used to measure the temperature difference between the length of the needle body and the target area.

Specifically, the temperature sensor first obtains the first temperature before the mouse is stimulated by the stimulation unit, and then obtains the second temperature after the mouse is stimulated by the stimulation unit. By calculating the difference between the first temperature and the second temperature, the degree of inflammation of the mouse after being stimulated is judged to determine when the stimulation stops.

Please refer to FIG. 4, which is a graph showing the relationship between the average needle length and the temperature difference of the target area according to an embodiment of the present invention. Among them, the X axis represents the average needle length (mm), and the Y axis represents the average temperature (°C) change of the target area before and after the stimulation treatment.

Figure 4 shows that when the average needle length is 2mm, the average body temperature of the mouse rises by 0.7°C. When the average needle length is 1mm, the average body temperature of the mouse rises by 0.2°C. When the average needle length is 0mm, the average body temperature of the mouse rises less than 0.2°C.

Therefore, when the length of the needle is longer, the temperature rises more, which means that the target area is stimulated by the stimulation unit.

Example Three: Evaluation of the effect of stimulating hair growth

1. Use the color difference value (△E) to evaluate the hair growth effect before and after stimulation

Refer to FIG. 5, which shows a bar graph of the average needle length and the color difference (ΔE) of the target area before and after the stimulation step according to an embodiment of the present invention. Among them, the X axis represents the first treatment group, the second treatment group and the The mouse numbers of the three treatment groups. The Y axis represents the color difference (△E) of the target area before and after the stimulation treatment.

In Fig. 5, the first treatment group used a microneedle stimulation unit with an average needle length of 2mm to perform the stimulation step. After the stimulation step, the skin color difference (ΔE) was greater than 2.5, and the hair growth was evident. The second treatment group and the third treatment group used microneedle stimulation units with an average needle length of 1mm and 0mm respectively for the stimulation step. The skin color difference (△E) after the stimulation step was less than or equal to 2.5, but the hair The hyperplasia is less obvious.

Please also refer to FIGS. 6A to 6D, which are photos of the appearance of hair growth of mice in the first treatment group according to the second embodiment of the present invention. Among them, the area with the drawing number "*" is the target area (T1 and T2). In addition, Fig. 6A and Fig. 6B are the left photo (Fig. 6A) and right photo (Fig. 6B) of the mice in the first treatment group on the 19th day after the stimulation step. Fig. 6C and Fig. 6D are respectively the first treatment group The left side photo (Figure 6C) and the right side photo (Figure 6D) on the 21st day after the mouse stimulation step.

In Figures 6A to 6D, compared to the control regions (C1 and C2), the target regions (T1 and T2) of the first treatment group are on the 19th day (Figure 6A) and 21st day (Figure 6C) after the stimulation step. ), the hair growth is thicker. Therefore, when the hair growth-promoting system of the present invention provides stimulation to the target area of the skin to cause a wound, it can have the effect of promoting hair growth.

2. Assess the hair growth effect of mice after stimulation

The conversion of mouse and human age is: 90-day to 120-day-old mouse is equivalent to human being 20 to 30 years old (equivalent to youth); 300-day to 420-day-old mouse is equivalent to human being 38 years old To 47 years old (equivalent to middle age); and 540 days Mice over the age of 65 are equivalent to humans (equivalent to old age). In order to observe the hair growth status of humans who are 38 to 47 years old, this example continues to observe the hair growth status of mice until 300 days later.

Please also refer to Figures 7A to 7H, which are mice in the first treatment group (aged 6 to 8 weeks old) according to the second embodiment of the present invention on the 12th day after the stimulation step (Figure 7A and Figure 7B) , 100th day (Figure 7C and Figure 7D), 200th day (Figure 7E and Figure 7F), 300th day (Figure 7G and Figure 7H) hair growth photos. 7A and 7B are the left side photos (Figure 7A) and the right side photos (Figure 7B) of the mice in Example 2 after the stimulation step, respectively. Figure 7C and Figure 7D are the small photos of Example 2 respectively. The left photo (Figure 7C) and the photo on the right (Figure 7D) of the mouse on the 100th day after the stimulation step. Figures 7E and 7F are the left photo of the mouse in Example 2 on the 200th day after the stimulation step (Figure 7F). 7E) and the right photo (Figure 7F). Figures 7G and 7H are respectively the left photo (Figure 7G) and the right photo (Figure 7H) of the mouse in Example 2 on the 300th day after the stimulation step. In addition, arrow 701, arrow 703, arrow 705, arrow 707, arrow 709, arrow 711, arrow 713, and arrow 715 represent the target area of the mouse after the stimulation step in the second embodiment.

The results of Figs. 7A to 7H show that the target area treated by the stimulation step of the hair growth promotion system of the present invention has obvious hair growth, which can stimulate the hair growth of mice and can be maintained until the 300th after the stimulation step. day.

3. Assess the state of hair follicles before and after stimulation

In this example, hematoxylin and eosin (hematoxylin and eosin, H&E) staining method was used to stain the mouse skin tissue of Example 2 to Observe the effect of promoting hair growth system to stimulate hair follicle growth. Since the H&E staining method is well-known to those with ordinary knowledge in the technical field of the present invention, it will not be repeated here.

Please refer to FIG. 8, which is a stained image of a tissue section of a mouse skin hair follicle on the 300th day after the stimulation step according to an embodiment of the present invention, where the arrow indicates the hair follicle.

The results in Fig. 8 show that compared to the control area 803 without stimulation of the hair growth system, the target area 801 after the stimulation of the hair growth system has significantly more hair follicles, which means that the hair growth system can indeed stimulate the hair follicles. increase the amount.

4. Assess the hair width before and after stimulation

In this embodiment, an image analysis software (Image J, NIH, USA) is used to measure the width of the newborn hair. Image J uses pixels as the unit for measuring hair, and every 222 pixels (pixel) is equivalent to 100μm. In this embodiment, the measurement of each hair is repeated three times, and the average value is used as the actual width of the hair.

Please refer to FIG. 9, which shows a bar graph of the hair width of the first treatment group according to an embodiment of the present invention. Among them, the X axis represents the mouse number, and the Y axis represents the mouse hair width (μm).

Figure 9 shows that the hair width after stimulation is compared with the hair width before stimulation, there is no statistically significant difference between the two, which shows that the hair growth-promoting system of the present invention is stimulated without affecting the width of new hair.

In summary, it is demonstrated by the above several examples that the hair growth promotion system can ensure that the target area after the stimulation step is reddened to bruise or blood stasis in the skin but does not ooze blood, and has the effect of promoting hair growth. And make new hair The width of the hair is the same as the original hair.

It should be added that although the present invention uses a specific process, a specific analysis method or a specific instrument as an example to illustrate the hair growth promotion system of the present invention, anyone with ordinary knowledge in the technical field of the present invention knows that the present invention does not Limited to this, without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention, the hair growth promotion system of the present invention can also be performed using other processes, other analytical methods or other instruments. For example, the hair growth promotion system of the present invention uses microneedle stimulation with a light source, which has a better effect on hair growth on the skin surface.

It can be seen from the above-mentioned embodiments that the hair growth promotion system of the present invention has the advantage of measuring the chromaticity value of the surface of the target area treated by the stimulation step to ensure that the treated surface is red to bruise or intradermal Stasis but does not ooze blood to promote the growth of skin hair, and make the width of new hair equal to the original hair.

Although the present invention has been disclosed in several embodiments as above, it is not intended to limit the present invention. Anyone with ordinary knowledge in the technical field to which the present invention pertains can make various modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Modifications and modifications, therefore, the scope of protection of the present invention shall be subject to the scope of the attached patent application.

100: Promote the hair growth system

110: stimulation unit

120: sensing unit

122: Chromaticity measuring element

Claims (5)

A system for promoting hair growth, comprising: a stimulation unit including a microneedle device, wherein the microneedle device includes a plurality of needle bodies, the stimulation unit acts on a target area, and the target area is a skin surface; and The measurement unit includes a chromaticity measurement element; wherein the stimulation unit determines a stimulus stop time point according to a chromaticity measurement value measured by the chromaticity measurement element in the target area. In the hair growth promotion system described in item 1 of the scope of patent application, the density of a needle body of the microneedle device is 100 to 300 needles per square centimeter. The hair growth promotion system described in the first item of the scope of patent application, wherein the width of a tip of the microneedle device is at least 30 microns. The hair growth promotion system described in item 1 of the scope of the patent application, wherein the sensing unit further includes a temperature measuring element, and the stimulation unit measures one of the chromaticity measurement values and the temperature measuring element in the target area The temperature measurement determines when the stimulation stops. According to the hair growth promotion system described in claim 1, wherein the stimulation unit further includes a light source, and a wavelength of the light source is between 400 nm and 2000 nm.

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