Current Limitation (aka Dose Limitation)
Iontophoresis safety
For your safety, the device permanently monitors the maximum permitted treatment parameters. The control panel is looking for upper and lower levels of resistance in the circuit. If your skin’s condition does not allow for safe operation within the set parameters, the Current Limitation feature will kick in. This may result in the dose (power) you have set not being reached. In this case, a protective circuit intervenes and stops the dose from increasing. This is an iontophoresis safety feature unique to Hidrex.
For example. Patient is treating his feet and selects n90 (pulse width 90%) with 32v of power. The patient places his feet into the water trays, the machine senses that the patients has entered the water and the circuit is closed. The Hidrex Iontophoresis machine performs a skin conductance test to ensure the resistance levels are within safe tolerances. If it detects that the skin’s resistance levels are not able to support the requested 32v then the Current Limitation circuit kicks in to play and limits the power sent to the patient. On screen you will see the CL indicator and a reduced power level on the display.
This protects you from burning and has no negative influence on the success of the treatment! It will not stop you from reaching dryness and ending excessive sweating.
If the dose limitation is active, the display will alternate between showing the voltage on screen and the letters “CL” . The device “remembers” the dose (voltage – you will often read voltage or power referred to as dosage in iontophoresis treatments and therapies) you have set in the background and continues to try to reach this target value at regular intervals.
You may therefore see changes in voltage levels as treatments progress and resistance in the body changes. During subsequent treatment sessions, as decreased sweating is reached (and body resistance increases), higher voltage values can be achieved, if necessary. Therefore you will be able to reach the desired power level and the CL feature will be switched off.
A unique safety enhancement
to Iontophoresis therapy
The Hidrex Current Limitation safety feature is a unique enhancement to Iontophoresis therapy and has been shown to help prevent over treatment, skin irritation and in some cases, small electrical burns. Many patients are too keen to reach a high power to gain results and end excessive sweating but this aggressive approach to treatment can be counter intuitive. If you operate the Iontophoresis machine at too high power for your skin you risk blisters which will stop further iontophoresis treatments until they are healed. This could of course lead to a delayed response to iontophoresis for hyperhidrosis (excessive sweating).
Hint: The lower the pulse width settings, the more sensitive the protective circuit is, and therefore a higher chance of dose limitation activation. If possible, increase the pulse width to achieve higher dose values.
The highest dose values and best treatment efficiency can be achieved with 90% pulse width or 100% pulse width.
If you have any questions please feel free to contact your support team.