Phototherapeutics

Omnilux - medical and aesthetic pay-per-use LED therapy systems

Background

Research at Cancer Research UK’s Paterson Institute demonstrated remission in non-melanoma skin cancers, combining topically applied drugs with light exposure.

Compared with surgery, nurse administered non-invasive therapy was economical, well tolerated and had fewer adverse events.  Experimenting with LED light density and wavelength, patients experienced a reduction in wrinkles, sun damage and wound healing.

Lucid was commissioned to develop the embryonic technology into a novel medical device and cosmetic therapy system.

Objectives included:

• Product configuration to suit different clinical and salon use and environments.

• Intuitive, anatomically flexible configuration to treat clusters of lesions or wide areas of affected skin. 

• Interchangeable treatment heads for different types of light therapies.

• LED array thermal and power management to optimise efficacy and product life.

• Pay-per use system options.

Discovery

To understand human, environmental and technical challenges our designers engaged with clinicians, therapists, clients. patients and Phototherapeutics’ team. 

Mapping potential interactions and lifecycle we considered the competitive context and opportunities to add value from product build through use, servicing and end-of-life.

Design

Rationalising potential component layouts, Lucid’s team balanced engineering a user’s day–to–day interactions with thermal management and structural protection for high-voltage electronics.

Working through options with sketch visuals, 3D CAD, block model and working prototypes we engaged stakeholders in providing feedback.  A clinical aesthetic integrated with a simple user interface and treatment credit system was developed.

Delivery

Lucid delivered the whole solution from design, prototypes, materials and prototypes specification and sourcing.

Results

Usability

Human factors engineering includes design for simple treatment interactions, safe, intuitive cleaning, build and service access.

Brand impact

Coherent brand messaging was implemented in the user interface and physical product.

Regulatory

ISO 14971 risk-management and ISO 60601 medical electrical safety principles were applied in development, resulting in first-time structural and EMC safety certification.

Sustainability

Good thermal management optimises power consumption.  Design for disassembly minimises end-of-life impact.

Manufacturability

Modular design of independent sub-assemblies enables efficient, high-volume batch build and test.