UV light has been used in medicine for over a century, including early dermatology treatments using phototherapy to treat skin conditions as recognized with the 1903 Nobel Prize. While both Solius and traditional phototherapy devices use UVB light, they operate at different parts of the UVB spectrum.
Narrowband UVB phototherapy is primarily used to treat chronic skin conditions such as psoriasis, eczema, and vitiligo, leveraging UVB bulb technology developed in the 1980s that emits a peak wavelength at 311–313 nm. While referred to as “narrowband,” these bulbs also have significant secondary emissions outside the intended range, including harmful UVA emissions.
Solius delivers nearly 3X more beneficial vitamin D-stimulating UVB light than narrowband UVB phototherapy and is designed to work beyond the skin to safely deliver the beneficial biological effects of sunlight, including vitamin D₃ production and other light-driven pathways linked to metabolic, hormonal, microbiome, and immune health.
Decades of research show that the body produces vitamin D most efficiently in a specific portion of the UVB range, roughly between 290–315 nm, with peak effectiveness around 295–297 nm. Solius is tuned to ~293 nm, placing it close to this biological sweet spot and closer than traditional phototherapy devices. At this wavelength, Solius is considerably more powerful than traditional narrowband UVB — a starting dose of 200 mJ/cm² of narrowband UVB is roughly equivalent to just a 12.5 mJ/cm² erythemally weighted Solius dose. Within the UVB spectrum, even small changes in wavelength can significantly influence biological effects.
Unlike traditional narrowband phototherapy systems, Solius incorporates an integrated safety and dosing system. This includes personalized dosing based on a patent pending and FDA-cleared skin sensor, automatic dose adjustments based on skin response, individual mobile app profiles for each user, therapy response feedback questions, distance sensing to ensure proper positioning, AI-assisted protective eyewear detection for eye safety, and enforced 24-hour lockout intervals between sessions to prevent overexposure.
Solius is the first FDA-cleared UVB light therapy device for over-the-counter use to provide systemic health benefits, reflecting its focus on safe, consistent use.
