Phototherapy

Phototherapy Light Meters & Radiometers

Even in ancient times, light was found to be an effective medical treatment

Light provides many benefits to man, not the least of which are energy, heat, and food but it has long been known to have many medicinal qualities as well.

 

Phototherapy, also known as light therapy, is treatment by application of either broad-spectrum or a specific waveband of light, and has its roots in antiquity.

 

The first deliberate use of light as a form of medical treatment can be traced back around 1400 BC to India where sufferers of vitiligo, a skin condition causing loss of pigmentation, were successfully treated with exposure to sunlight after certain plant extracts were administered that contained skin photosensitizing compounds. These compounds, called psoralens, made their exposure to UVA more effective at re-pigmentation.

 

The ancients didn’t know why it worked, but they knew it worked. Over the centuries since, scientific research has taken these first simple beginnings and transformed them into sophisticated forms of widely accepted treatments for numerous medical, psychological, and cosmetic conditions.

 

Phototherapy has many benefits but requires careful control.

Phototherapy has given practitioners and patients new options for the treatment of difficult chronic disorders and problematic conditions such as dermatitis, psoriasis, common acne, eczema, and seasonal affective disorder as well as vitiligo, neonatal jaundice, delayed sleep-phase syndrome, polymorphous light eruption, and mycosis fungoides among others.

 

In many cases, phototherapy treatments have been found to be as or more effective than traditional procedures while less expensive and typically faster. The demands of a busy world have given way to more powerful phototherapy treatments, particularly narrowband UVB systems, capable of delivering the required exposure in the shortest amount of time, making phototherapy an even more convenient treatment option.

 

With decreased exposure times and fewer required visits, these treatments are more convenient than ever and can now fit around a patients schedule or even done by the patient themselves in their own home, office, or car due to advances in smaller, safer, and easier to use portable and home-use phototherapy light sources.

 

However, with these benefits come certain considerations, while ultraviolet light (UVA and UVB), infrared (IR), and even blue or red visible light have all been shown to be effective at treating many conditions, also pose certain health risks due to the potential damage to the skin or eyes from over exposure, making it critical to monitor both the wavelength of light and the amount of exposure given to a patient.

 

Light measurement instrumentation to match any phototherapy application.

International Light Technologies (ILT) has developed a line of reliable, highly accurate light measurement systems capable of both research and development or clinical use and available to match the wide variety of light sources used in modern phototherapy treatments.

 

ILT meters come with NIST traceable, ISO/IEC 17025:2017 accredited calibrations in units of Watts, Lumens, Watt/cm2, lux and foot-candles as well as full spectrum analysis.

 

Input optics, including small cosine receptors, integrating spheres, narrow beam adapters and apertures (for testing uniformity) can be added to ILT systems making them the most versatile systems available.

 

ILT engineers and technical support staff are available to customize systems to the unique requirements of our customers.

 

Use the table below to identify the system (meter + detector) that meets your specific application.  Use the table to find the spectral range you wish to measure.  The table can be filtered to show our meters by type, (e.g., hand-held), as well as searching on the minimum and maximum spectral range you wish to measure.  The tables can also be sorted to group systems by meter type, spectral range, measurement range, and units.  Click the product link of the system to view it's details.

 

Need assistance?  Contact us using the form below, or by calling us at 978-818-6180.

 

* All Radiometers/Photometers/Spectroradiometers are NIST Traceable.
* If units of measure are not shown please contact us (empirical units also available i.e.
fc, fL, nits, lm/ft²). 

 

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Explore All Light Meters By Application Type

Application Common Sources Meter Type Spectral Range Measurement Range Units Product
UVA Any Bench-top/Lab 315-390 nm 2e-10 – 0.1 W/cm² ILT5000, SED033/UVA/W
UVA Any Handheld 315-390 nm 2e-8 – 0.2 W/cm² ILT2400, SED033/UVA/W
UVB Any Bench-top/Lab 265-332 nm 3e-7 – 0.1 W/cm² ILT5000 UVB Phototherapy
UVB Any Handheld 265-332 nm 6e-6 – 0.1 W/cm² ILT2400 UVB Phototherapy
UVB Any Bench-top/Lab 275-320 nm 5e-9 – 5 W/cm² ILT5000, SED270B/QT
UVB Any Handheld 275-320 nm 3e-7 – 5 W/cm² ILT2400, SED270B/QT
UVB Any Low Profile 275-320 nm 3e-7 – 5 W/cm² ILT1270B/QT
Narrow UVB Source Any Bench-top/Lab 312 nm 2e-8 – 20 W/cm² ILT5000, SED005/TLS312/W
Narrow UVB Source Any Handheld 312 nm 2e-6 – 20 W/cm² ILT2400, SED005/TLS312/TD
BLUE Light Any Handheld 410-485 nm 2e-7 – 3 W/cm² ILT2400, SCD144
BLUE Light Any Handheld 390-510 nm 8e-9 – 0.01 W/cm² ILT2400, SED033/BLUE/PD
Lamp Spectral Analysis Any Handheld 380-780 nm 0.1 – 500 W/m2 ILT350 Spectroradiometer
UVA Any Handheld 315-390 nm 1e-7 – 1.8 W/cm² ILT2400, MPP Sensor
UVB Any Handheld 275-320 nm 4e-7 – 8 W/cm² ILT2400, MPPUVB
Narrow UVB Source Any Handheld 290-330 nm 3e-6 – 4 W/cm² ILT2400, MPPNBB
BLUE Light Any Spectrometer 200-500 nm Customized Spectrum W/cm2/nm ILT960-UV Spectroradiometer
UV-NIR Light Therapy Any Spectrometer 230-1050 nm Customized Spectrum W/cm2/nm ILT960-BB
UVA Any Handheld 315-390 nm 1 – 199.9 mW/cm2 ILT770-UVA-350 Complete System For Measuring UVA Phototherapy Light Sources
UVA Any Handheld 326-401 nm 1 – 199.9 W/cm2 ILT770-UVA-1 Complete System For Measuring UVA-1 Phototherapy Light Sources
Narrow UVB Source Any Handheld 275-320 nm 1 – 199.9 mW/cm2 ILT770-NBUVB311 Complete System For Measuring 310-313 nm Narrow Band UVB Phototherapy Light Sources
BLUE Light Any Handheld 390-510 nm 8e-10 – 0.01 W/cm2 ILT5000, SED033/BLUE/PD
BLUE Light Any Handheld 400-540 nm 0.01 – 8e3 uW/cm2/nm ILT2400 Hand-Held Bilirubin Filtered Blue Light Meter