Safety, contraindications and screening
Do I need eye protection in the Red Light ozone sauna?
In the Salvagente Red Light ozone sauna your head stays outside the sauna, away from the direction of the LEDs, and an automatic cutoff switches the lights off the moment the doors open. That is how eye exposure is managed. Keep your eyes closed or turned away if you can see the emitters.
How our sauna is arranged. The Red Light ozone steam sauna carries 750+ LEDs: 380+ near infrared LEDs at 850 nm, and 370+ high-density photobiomodulation LEDs in blue, green and red. What makes it different from a red light panel, bed or mask is that your head is outside the cabinet and away from the direction of the light. Exposure is to the body, not to the face and eyes.
The automatic cutoff. Open the doors and the lights go off immediately. It is a published specification, and it covers the moment people are most likely to look straight at an emitter, which is while getting in or out.
Why wavelength matters to eyes. The international framework here is IEC 62471, Photobiological safety of lamps and lamp systems, which assigns a lamp to a risk group based on measured irradiance — the light power landing on a given area, in milliwatts per square centimetre — and radiance at the eye position. Two things matter particularly in a sauna like this:
- Blue light, roughly 400 to 500 nm, carries the greatest photochemical retinal hazard per unit of energy.
- 850 nm near infrared is invisible, so it does not trigger the blink reflex, aversion or pupil constriction that limit your exposure to bright visible light. The eye’s own protection does not operate, which is why infrared sources are assessed against a separate limit.
In a session. Keep your eyes closed or turned away from the emitters if you can see them at all, and say so if the light is uncomfortable. If you have a retinal condition, take a photosensitising medication, or have had recent eye surgery, ask your ophthalmologist first.