Who should not use an ozone sauna

Ozone steam sauna sessions are a wellness practice, and the sauna combines several things that each carry their own cautions: ozone on the skin, steam heat, 12 micron far infrared on every model in the range, and 750+ LEDs on the Red Light model. Screening covers all of them.

Everything below is the safety guidance we publish for the Salvagente ozone steam sauna range. It is not medical advice and cannot take account of your history. Ozone therapy is regulated differently in every country, so check what applies where you are and speak to a qualified practitioner before a first session.

The one rule that matters most: ozone is not for breathing

Ozone is toxic to the lungs if inhaled; medical applications must use strictly controlled administration methods (injections, topical, transdermal or autohemotherapy).

That is why we build the sauna the way we do. Your head stays outside the cabinet and the neck opening is covered, so the ozone stays on your skin and out of your airway. We warn specifically against wooden saunas used with ozone: most do not let the head stick out, which means inhaling ozone for the whole session.

Two equipment points belong in the same rule. Ozone should be generated from a medical oxygen source, because impurities in ambient air otherwise pass through the generator. And the room needs ordinary ventilation, both to clear residual ozone and to keep enough oxygen in the air for the concentrator to work. We recommend a minimum room of 2 m by 2 m, with 3 m by 3 m or larger as the optimum, and on nearly twenty years of operating these saunas we consider normal room ventilation sufficient.

If ozone is ever inhaled

Concentrations are low, and keeping the head outside the sauna with the neck opening covered prevents exposure. The steps to follow if you smell ozone or feel unwell are kept on one page, so they are always the same: what to do if you feel unwell.

The contraindications we publish

The list is not exhaustive.

• Pregnancy. Not under any circumstances. Sauna heat raises the mother’s heart rate, and with it the baby’s. Sessions can resume after the birth and after breastfeeding has stopped.
• Menstruation. A woman who is menstruating should not have a session. She should wait until her period has finished, and can book normally after that.
• Active bleeding from any site. Ozone thins the blood, which will increase bleeding.
• Platelet disorders, including haemophilia. Same reason.
• Thrombosis. Blood thinning could dislodge a clot.
• Active hyperthyroidism. An overactive thyroid is already a risk; heat should be avoided.
• Any heart condition. Heat increases the strain on the heart.
• A pacemaker. We prohibit ozone therapy because the far infrared might interfere with the device.
• Active alcoholics. Alcohol raises heart rate and so does the sauna.

Conditions with a waiting period

• Three months after a heart attack or a stroke.
• Two to three months after major surgery — the risk is bleeding, or a clot loosening.
• Four days after a chemotherapy session, and tell the treating doctor.
• Eight hours after your last alcoholic drink, and four hours after a session before drinking.

Our pre- and post-session timing guidance

• Refrain from taking vitamin C or supplements for 1 to 2 hours before or after a session. Vitamin C and ozone neutralise each other.
• If you take any medication, ask your doctor or pharmacist whether to time your session around it. Never skip, delay or move a prescribed dose to fit a session.

Getting out, and supervision

You can use the sauna on your own at home, as long as you can get in and out unaided; see using the sauna on your own. In a business, a trained person must be present and within call during every client’s session, and a child needs constant supervision.

To get out, open the doors and step out. To stop the ozone, switch the sauna off at its wall socket once you’re out.

If a condition is not on the list

The list above is not a complete medical contraindication list. Where a client has something that does not appear on it — glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency, epilepsy, an implanted device other than a pacemaker, kidney or liver disease, a blood-pressure diagnosis, or anticoagulant medication — treat that as “ask”, not as “allowed”. Send them to their doctor, and ask us for written guidance, before booking them in.

Heat is the other half of the session

The sauna runs a steam cycle around a 1500 W element, with automatic temperature control and a digital display. We suggest starting a first session between 30 °C and 37 °C depending on comfort, and only people in good health should go above 37 °C. Ozone also begins to break down at 40 °C, so more heat does not make a better session — heat is an added benefit for those who can take it.

The load on the heart comes from vasodilation — blood vessels in warm skin widening so the body can shed heat, which raises heart rate and can drop blood pressure. Drink water before and after, at least 1 to 1.5 litres daily. Weakness, nausea, headache, dizziness or confusion are signs of heat strain — hyperthermia — and mean the session ends.

There are also physical limits worth checking at booking. Our saunas take users up to about 2 m (6 ft 5 in) tall. Rated user weight differs by model — 120 kg for the Standard, 180 kg (about 397 lb) for the Deluxe, and the figure for the Red Light is on its product page.

Light, and the eyes

The Red Light model adds 750+ LEDs: 380+ near infrared LEDs at 850 nm, and 370+ high-density photobiomodulation LEDs in blue, green and red. What makes our sauna different from a light panel or a bed is that your head is outside it, away from the direction of the emitters, and an automatic cutoff switches the lights off the moment the doors open. Those two things are how we manage eye exposure. Keep light out of clients’ eyes as a matter of course, and end the session if anyone finds it uncomfortable.

Cleaning between clients

Every model has disinfection options, always run with no one inside the sauna. The Red Light also has an automatic ozone disinfection cycle, started with one tap on the screen and run with no one inside the sauna between sessions; the sauna shows a warning for the cycle. Ozone is a recognised disinfectant. That is a feature of the sauna rather than a substitute for cleaning it: sweat and skin oils on the surfaces consume ozone, so the cycle disinfects rather than sterilises. Wipe the sauna down after every client and clean it to your health authority’s standard for shared equipment. Run the disinfection cycle only with no one inside the sauna. Never start it with a person in the sauna, and never get in while it is running or flushing.

Screening, paperwork and supervision

We supply our sauna clients with client information forms, and theBooking.site is built to have clients read and sign the terms, and to warn of potential contraindications before a session is administered. We also provide training, manuals and safety guidance alongside the saunas; it is training and support, not an accredited qualification.

A workable intake form covers pregnancy, breastfeeding and menstruation, every item on the contraindication list above, dates of any heart attack, stroke, surgery or chemotherapy, implanted devices, current medication, alcohol in the last eight hours, weight against the model’s limit, and a signed acknowledgement of what the session is and is not. Have that wording checked against local law — signed terms do not override a duty of care.

If something goes wrong

Tell the operator at once, or get out yourself. To get out, open the doors and step out. To stop the ozone, switch the sauna off at its wall socket once you’re out. Then follow the steps on feeling unwell. Any symptom that is severe, sudden, unusual or persistent needs a doctor.