Every light-therapy device the FDA has cleared — and how much light each one actually delivers

What is in here

The dose skin receives is irradiance multiplied by time, so without an irradiance figure there is no way to know how much light a device delivers in a session — however many LEDs or however much total power it advertises.

This is the full corpus: every device cleared under the two OTC light-therapy product codes since 2021, whatever its shape. Those codes describe the authorised indication — wrinkles, acne — not the form factor, so a hair brush, a treatment couch and a face mask can all sit under the same code. 115 of 129 declare an irradiance figure in their filing.

If you are comparing face masks, the face mask index is the one you want: this page is here so that classifying by shape does not throw away the rest of the corpus.

A higher number is not automatically better: the photobiomodulation response is biphasic, and large doses can inhibit rather than stimulate. Across all 129 filings we read, we found no case where a manufacturer’s own published figures contradict each other. The two errors we did find were ours, and they are listed in our corrections log. See how long each device takes to reach a given dose.