Red light therapy glasses: the two numbers the box has to state
Red light therapy glasses are only as good as their attenuation at the wavelengths your device emits, usually 660nm red and 850nm near-infrared. Most listings do not state it. Here is why near-infrared is the specific hazard, how to read optical density, and the two pairs we would consider.
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Short answer
Red light therapy glasses should state their optical density, OD, at the wavelengths your device emits, usually 660nm red and 850nm near-infrared. OD 1 passes 10% of the light; OD 2 passes 1%. Neither listing we checked states OD at either wavelength. Wear rated eyewear with any device that emits near-infrared.
Most red light therapy glasses are sold on a colour and a promise. The colour tells you nothing: a lens can look dark and pass most of 850nm, because your eye cannot see 850nm to judge it. The number that matters is optical density at the wavelengths your device emits, and this page explains how to read it, why near-infrared is the specific hazard, and which two pairs we would consider.
Do you need eye protection for red light therapy?
Yes, with any panel that emits near-infrared, which is almost all of them, and we would wear it with red-only devices too. We are not going to tell you eye protection is unnecessary, and if a brand or a reviewer does, ask what they measured, at what wavelength and at what distance from the eye.
The case rests on arithmetic, not alarm. IEC 62471, the international standard for the photobiological safety of lamps and LED systems, sets an exposure limit for infrared at 780 to 3,000nm reaching the eye, to protect the cornea and lens from heat: 100 W/m², which is 10 mW/cm², for exposures over 1,000 seconds, and 18,000 × t^-0.75 W/m² for shorter ones. For a 10-minute session that works out to about 14.8 mW/cm².
Now put that beside a panel. The stronger panels in our panel guide are rated at around 70 mW/cm² at six inches, manufacturer-stated, red and near-infrared combined, and none of the brands split that figure by wavelength. If even a fifth of 70 mW/cm² were near-infrared, an open eye at six inches would be at the 10-minute limit. That is arithmetic on a rated figure, not a measurement of any panel, and it is the reason the conservative answer is the cheap one.
That is not a measurement of anyone’s eye, the limit carries safety margins, and your eyes are rarely six inches from the panel. But on a manufacturer’s own figures the margin is not obviously large, which is why we default to goggles.
IEC 62471 classifies lamps from Exempt through Risk Group 3, assessing non-general-lighting sources at 200mm, about eight inches, close to where people use panels. A manufacturer that has tested to it can tell you the risk group. Few publish one; it is a fair question to ask before you buy.
Why near-infrared is the specific hazard
Red light at 630 to 660nm is visible and bright: you squint, blink, look away, and your pupil narrows. That aversion response is what usually protects the eye from bright light, and for visible red it works.
Near-infrared at 810 to 850nm is invisible. Your retina’s photoreceptors barely respond to it, so it produces no glare, no aversion and no pupil response. The panel’s red LEDs look bright, the near-infrared ones look dim or dark, and the dim-looking ones can be delivering much of the power. The absence of discomfort is not evidence of safety, which is the line our dosing guide and our mask guide both repeat for this reason.
Closing your eyes helps and is not enough on its own. Published eyelid measurements, Bierman, Figueiro and Rea in the Journal of Biomedical Optics in 2011, found the closed eyelid passes far more long-wavelength red light than blue. The eyelid is thin tissue, and red and near-infrared are the wavelengths that pass through tissue best, which is the premise of the whole therapy.
Light delivered into the eye on purpose is a medical procedure, dosed by a clinician. In November 2024 the FDA granted De Novo marketing authorization to LumiThera’s Valeda system for dry age-related macular degeneration, a device that shines set doses of light into the eye in an eye clinic. And a 2023 case report in JAMA Ophthalmology, one patient, a 12-year-old, described damage to the centre of the retina after five months of a low-level red-light laser device prescribed for myopia; vision partly recovered after it was stopped. Neither is a panel, and one case is one case. What they share is that light aimed at the eye is dosed or prescribed by someone accountable for it, while a panel’s dose to your eye is set by where you happened to sit.
Red light therapy goggles vs glasses
The difference is coverage. Goggles either seal around each eye, like the small cups used in tanning beds, or wrap the sides of the face. Glasses sit in front of the eyes and leave gaps at the sides, top and bottom unless the frame has side shields.
| Setup | Where the light comes from | What we would wear |
|---|---|---|
| Single panel in front of you | Mostly straight ahead | Wraparound glasses with side coverage, or goggles |
| Panel beside you, or two panels | Sides as well as front | Goggles that seal or wrap |
| Full-body stand, bed or enclosed booth | Every direction, plus reflections | Sealed goggles |
| Face mask | Directly over the eye area | The shielding the mask ships with; see our mask guide |
Fit is part of the specification: a good lens does nothing for light that goes around it.
What to read on the box
Three things, in order of importance.
Optical density at your device’s wavelengths. Optical density is the base-10 logarithm of attenuation: transmission is 10 to the power of minus OD. It is the figure laser eyewear is rated by, and it is the one that answers the question.
| Optical density | Light transmitted | Light blocked |
|---|---|---|
| OD 0.7 | 20% | 80% |
| OD 1 | 10% | 90% |
| OD 1.3 | 5% | 95% |
| OD 2 | 1% | 99% |
| OD 3 | 0.1% | 99.9% |
A pair should state OD at 660nm and at 850nm separately, or a curve covering both, because a filter’s attenuation varies with wavelength. One number over a wide band does not tell you what happens at the wavelength you care about.
The stated wavelength band. It should cover every wavelength your device emits. Check the panel’s spec sheet: 630, 660, 810, 830 and 850nm are the common set.
Which standard, if any. There is no dedicated consumer standard for LED therapy eyewear. The nearest yardsticks are borrowed. Laser eyewear is specified per wavelength under the ANSI Z136 series in the US and EN 207 in Europe, which is the labelling convention you want, OD at stated wavelengths, even though a therapy panel is not a laser. ANSI/ISEA Z87.1 covers impact protection and marks infrared filters with an “R” shade number. A pair that names any of these, with the marking on the frame, has at least been tested against something. Neither pair below names one.
Why tanning goggles and blue light glasses do not tell you
Tanning goggles are specified for ultraviolet. US sunlamp eyewear must transmit no more than 0.1% at 200 to 320nm and 1% at 320 to 400nm under 21 CFR 1040.20, and only enough visible light to see the timer. Nothing in that rule mentions 660 or 850nm. A tanning goggle may block near-infrared well; its rating does not say so.
Blue light glasses are designed to cut short-wavelength blue and pass the rest, red included. That is the opposite of what you need.
Sunglasses are rated for ultraviolet and visible glare; whether one blocks 850nm depends on dyes the label does not describe. Mito’s listing makes the same point.
The two pairs we would consider
Both listings were read on 15 October 2026. Every figure in this table is listing-stated except the OD column, which is our conversion of the listing’s percentages and is marked as such.
| Listing-stated | Mito Red Light glasses | ULTREMA glasses |
|---|---|---|
| Wavelength band | 600–900nm | 200–2,000nm |
| Attenuation | IR3 Dark: 80% reduction; IR5 Extra Dark: 95% reduction | OD 3+ |
| OD at 660nm stated? | No | No |
| OD at 850nm stated? | No | No |
| OD implied by the stated figure | About 0.7 (IR3), about 1.3 (IR5), our conversion | 3+, wavelength not stated |
| Visible light | “Allowing visible light through” | Under 10% visible transmittance |
| Standard named | None | None |
Mito Red Light therapy glasses
Glasses from the panel maker whose spectroradiometer figure we cite above, designed to cut red and near-infrared while letting visible light through. The listing states a 600–900nm band and two lens options, IR3 Dark at 80% reduction and IR5 Extra Dark at 95%, which converts to an OD of roughly 0.7 and 1.3; it does not say at which wavelength those percentages apply. If you buy these, buy the IR5, keep your eyes closed as well, and treat them as one layer.
We do not publish a price for Amazon products. Amazon listings reprice constantly and the figure would be stale before you read it.
The Mito pair is built to cut brightness while you can still see, which the listing frames as reducing perceived eye strain. Its stated attenuation is modest: an OD around 1.3 at 850nm would pass about 5%, a reduction, not a block.
ULTREMA red light therapy glasses
Polycarbonate glasses with side wings, sold for red light therapy, tanning and laser cosmetic treatments. The listing states protection from 200 to 2,000nm, OD 3+, and under 10% visible light transmittance. It does not say at which wavelengths OD 3 applies.
We do not publish a price for Amazon products. Amazon listings reprice constantly and the figure would be stale before you read it.
A filter’s attenuation varies with wavelength, so one OD figure across an 1,800nm band leaves open where it holds, and the listing does not say. The visible figure does not settle it either: under 10% is a ceiling that an OD 1 lens already meets. The lens may be very good at 850nm; the listing does not establish it. Despite the “laser glasses” wording, do not use these with an actual laser unless the frame is marked with an OD at that laser’s wavelength.
A third option is the goggles that came with your panel. Read them the same way: band, OD at 660 and 850nm, standard.
How to use them
- On before the panel is switched on, off after it is off.
- Close your eyes as well. The two together beat either.
- Do not look at the panel, even through the lenses.
- Keep to the manufacturer’s distance. Irradiance falls steeply with distance; the dosing guide has the arithmetic.
- Check the fit for side gaps, especially with more than one panel.
What we have not measured
We have not measured either pair of glasses or any panel’s irradiance at eye position. Every attenuation figure here is listing-stated or our labelled conversion of one. The exposure limit is IEC 62471’s; the 70 mW/cm² panel figure is a manufacturer rating, not our reading; and the “a fifth of it” scenario is arithmetic on that rating with an assumed red-to-near-infrared split, because no brand we cover publishes one.
The test that replaces all of it:
- Lens transmission: each lens on a laboratory spectrophotometer from 400 to 1,000nm, giving OD at 630, 660, 810, 830 and 850nm instead of one number per pair.
- In use: a spectroradiometer at the eye position of a head form, six inches from a panel, bare and then behind each lens, so the reading includes what leaks around the frame as well as through the lens.
- Panel side: the same instrument at eye position with no eyewear, split into red and near-infrared, so the IEC 62471 comparison above is made on a measurement rather than an assumption.
- Limitation: one unit of each pair, one panel, n=1. Lenses vary by batch, and a measurement tells you about our pair.
Until those numbers exist, the conservative answer stands: wear eyewear that names the wavelengths, close your eyes, and do not look at the panel.
More Red Light Therapy guides How we test
Questions buyers actually ask
Do you need eye protection for red light therapy?
Yes, with any panel or device that emits near-infrared, and we would wear it with red-only devices too. Near-infrared at 810 to 850nm is invisible, so your blink and squint reflexes do not respond to it, and on manufacturer figures a panel at six inches could put an open eye near the infrared exposure limit in IEC 62471, depending on how much of its output is near-infrared. Wear goggles rated for the wavelengths, keep your eyes closed, and do not look at the panel.
What is the difference between red light therapy goggles and glasses?
Coverage. Goggles seal around the eye or wrap the sides; glasses sit in front of it and can let light in around the frame. With a single panel in front of you, well-fitting glasses with side coverage are workable. In a full-body setup, a bed or anywhere with reflective walls, light arrives from the sides too, and a sealed goggle is the safer choice.
Can I use tanning goggles or blue light glasses for red light therapy?
Not on their rating alone. US tanning goggles are specified for ultraviolet: under 21 CFR 1040.20 they must pass no more than 0.1% at 200 to 320nm and 1% at 320 to 400nm, and nothing about 660 or 850nm. Blue light glasses are designed to pass red. Either may happen to block red and near-infrared, but the label does not tell you, which is the point of buying a rated pair.
What optical density do red light therapy glasses need?
There is no published consumer standard for LED therapy eyewear, so there is no official minimum. Optical density is logarithmic: OD 1 passes 10% of the light, OD 2 passes 1%, OD 3 passes 0.1%. A pair should state its OD at the wavelengths your device emits. Of the two we checked, neither states an OD at 660nm or at 850nm specifically.
Should you close your eyes during red light therapy?
Yes, and wear the goggles as well. A closed eyelid is not an opaque shutter for red light: published eyelid measurements find it passes much more long-wavelength red than blue. Closing your eyes reduces exposure; it does not replace eyewear rated for the wavelengths.
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