For people considering or using clinician-directed narrowband UVB, and their caregivers
What this page helps you do
If you no longer need a device—or you are considering a used one—check the exact unit’s support, recall, transfer, and disposal status. Broken lamps and retired equipment may also need manufacturer and local hazardous-material guidance.
- Your task
- Find the short answer, note what depends on your situation, and choose whether a conversation is needed.
- The clinician boundary
- A qualified clinician determines candidacy and the treatment plan. Use the exact current device instructions and contact the care team for reactions or changes; this page does not provide settings or treatment changes.
Should I buy a home NB-UVB device directly from another patient?
Short answerDo not complete a direct patient-to-patient sale first and ask questions later. Ask the manufacturer or a licensed medical-equipment supplier whether the exact serial number can be lawfully transferred, serviced, activated, and used with the buyer’s prescription. Evidence Evidence Evidence
More detail
Ultraviolet lamps for dermatologic disorders are FDA-regulated Class II devices. The National Psoriasis Foundation interprets the prescription-device rules as requiring a physician or licensed manufacturer or distributor to facilitate a private transfer.
What depends on your situation
That Foundation statement is patient education, not a regulator opinion or a decision about one transaction. Federal and state rules, product terms, prescription status, and manufacturer support can differ.
What should I verify before considering a used unit?
Short answerBefore you pay for a used unit, check: Evidence Evidence Evidence
- Model and serial number
- Device and lamp labels
- Current manual
- Prescription and activation process
- Recall status
- Ownership history
- Service history
- Repairs
- Lamp history
- Whether the controls work
- Electrical condition
- Safety equipment
- Cleaning instructions
- Whether the manufacturer still supports it
More detail
A useful record includes the original invoice, service tickets, and repair and lamp invoices. Add output or calibration records if the maker uses them. Keep current photos, included-parts details, and written proof that the unit can still be serviced and transferred.
What depends on your situation
A lamp can light without proving adequate or uniform performance. Do not interpret electrical damage, substitute parts, error codes, or calibration needs yourself; use the exact manufacturer or authorized-service route.
How should payment, shipping, and returns be handled?
Short answerUse a protected marketplace and payment method only after confirming the transfer route. Put the exact unit, condition, parts, inspection window, returns, freight damage, and refund timing in writing. Avoid off-platform wires, gift cards, cash apps, or cryptocurrency. Evidence Evidence
More detail
FTC marketplace guidance recommends checking the seller, item, payment protection, return deadline, and dispute process. Large panels and cabinets also need packing and freight terms that identify who bears concealed-damage risk.
What depends on your situation
Marketplace protection does not make a medical-device transfer lawful or a unit safe. A return right may be costly or unusable if freight responsibility is unclear.
Can I sell or give my device to someone else?
Short answerDo not assume that a prescription, training, warranty, service access, software access, lockout support, or permission to use the device transfers to a new owner. Before selling or giving it away, check the exact unit with the manufacturer and confirm any clinical, regulatory, and local legal requirements. Evidence Evidence Evidence
More detail
A useful transfer record identifies the manufacturer, exact model and unit, manual revision, service history, current status, included accessories, and any recall or safety notice. Verified records should be kept separate from claims that only the seller has made.
What depends on your situation
Transfer rules, prescription requirements, software and support access, and warranties vary by product and location. Verify the seller and unit through records and official support, and ask the appropriate clinical or legal professional whether the transaction can proceed.
What should I do with a device I am ready to retire?
Short answerAsk the manufacturer how your exact device should be retired, then check local rules for electronic equipment and hazardous materials. Do not put the unit or its lamps in ordinary household trash unless the exact product guidance and local rules allow it. Evidence Evidence
More detail
The device body, electronics, lamps, batteries, and accessories may need different disposal routes. The manufacturer can identify the components; local authorities decide what nearby programs accept and how items must be prepared.
What depends on your situation
Rules and collection programs vary by location and can change. A recycler that takes one component or lamp type may not accept the complete device.
Can I put the lamps in household trash?
Short answerDo not assume you can. Some fluorescent phototherapy lamps contain mercury and need an appropriate lamp-recycling or hazardous-material route. Read the exact lamp label and device manual, then confirm what your local collection program accepts. Evidence Evidence Evidence Evidence
More detail
The United States Environmental Protection Agency recommends recycling mercury-containing bulbs where practical and points people to state or local requirements and collection options. The manufacturer can identify the lamp used in your exact model.
What depends on your situation
Not every light source has the same contents, and local rules differ. A product-family name cannot replace the exact lamp label, part record, or manual.
What should I do if a lamp has already broken?
Short answerKeep people and pets away, then follow current government, local-authority, and manufacturer instructions for the exact lamp. Do not improvise a cleanup from memory. Directions for ventilation, collection, packaging, and disposal can depend on the lamp and where you live. Evidence Evidence Evidence Evidence
More detail
The EPA publishes cleanup guidance for broken mercury-containing bulbs, and local authorities may have additional or different requirements. The device manufacturer can identify the lamp and explain what should happen to the equipment after the breakage.
What depends on your situation
Use the exact lamp label, manufacturer support, and local authority to confirm its contents, assess cleanup requirements, and determine whether the device was damaged. For an urgent exposure or injury concern, contact the appropriate local safety or medical service.
What if the device might be under recall?
Short answerBefore you sell, service, or discard a device, match its model and unit identifiers to the current official recall record. FDA recall record 221313, posted July 15, 2026, covers a limited group of Phothera 600/ClearLink systems; it is not a recall of every Phothera product or every home phototherapy device. Evidence Evidence
More detail
The regulator and manufacturer notices identify the affected units and tell owners what to do. A seller’s description or an old catalog entry cannot replace that current check.
What depends on your situation
Recall status and instructions can change. A product-family name without unit identifiers may not be enough to know whether the notice applies.
Can I replace a damaged lamp or repair the device myself?
Short answerDo not open, bypass, test, repair, or substitute lamps or electrical parts outside the exact current manual and authorized service route. If a lamp or assembly is damaged, stop and contact the manufacturer. Evidence Evidence Evidence
More detail
The manufacturer’s current documentation and support process control lamp identity, compatibility, service, and safe handling. A part is not verified for the device just because it physically fits.
What depends on your situation
Ask authorized support to inspect the damage, confirm any replacement part, and determine whether the warranty and local electrical rules permit a repair. Support for older or used devices may have changed.
Questions that can change the next decision
- For your clinicianWhat should I leave untouched while I wait for support?Saving keeps this on your device and needs JavaScript, which is off in this browser.
Applicability check
Who was studied?
These fields show what the cited evidence reports about the people and body sites behind outcome or safety claims. “Not reported” means the reviewed source omitted the field; “Pending exact source review” means SteadySkin has not made that determination yet.
Ask the manufacturer how your exact device should be retired, then check local rules for electronic equipment and hazardous materials. Do not put the unit or its lamps in ordinary household trash unless the exact product guidance and local rules allow it.
- Age range
- Pending exact source review
- Condition subtype
- Pending exact source review
- Severity or extent
- Pending exact source review
- Sample size
- Pending exact source review
- Geography and care setting
- Pending exact source review
- Skin tone or phototype
- Pending exact source review
- Race
- Pending exact source review
- Ethnicity
- Pending exact source review
- Body sites
- Pending exact source review
What that means for this page: This is explicitly gated as a safety claim, but exact population extraction is still pending. It cannot publish or support an estimate of individual risk until that review is complete.
Do not assume you can. Some fluorescent phototherapy lamps contain mercury and need an appropriate lamp-recycling or hazardous-material route. Read the exact lamp label and device manual, then confirm what your local collection program accepts.
- Age range
- Pending exact source review
- Condition subtype
- Pending exact source review
- Severity or extent
- Pending exact source review
- Sample size
- Pending exact source review
- Geography and care setting
- Pending exact source review
- Skin tone or phototype
- Pending exact source review
- Race
- Pending exact source review
- Ethnicity
- Pending exact source review
- Body sites
- Pending exact source review
What that means for this page: This is explicitly gated as a safety claim, but exact population extraction is still pending. It cannot publish or support an estimate of individual risk until that review is complete.
Keep people and pets away, then follow current government, local-authority, and manufacturer instructions for the exact lamp. Do not improvise a cleanup from memory. Directions for ventilation, collection, packaging, and disposal can depend on the lamp and where you live.
- Age range
- Pending exact source review
- Condition subtype
- Pending exact source review
- Severity or extent
- Pending exact source review
- Sample size
- Pending exact source review
- Geography and care setting
- Pending exact source review
- Skin tone or phototype
- Pending exact source review
- Race
- Pending exact source review
- Ethnicity
- Pending exact source review
- Body sites
- Pending exact source review
What that means for this page: This is explicitly gated as a safety claim, but exact population extraction is still pending. It cannot publish or support an estimate of individual risk until that review is complete.
Before you sell, service, or discard a device, match its model and unit identifiers to the current official recall record. FDA recall record 221313, posted July 15, 2026, covers a limited group of Phothera 600/ClearLink systems; it is not a recall of every Phothera product or every home phototherapy device.
- Age range
- Pending exact source review
- Condition subtype
- Pending exact source review
- Severity or extent
- Pending exact source review
- Sample size
- Pending exact source review
- Geography and care setting
- Pending exact source review
- Skin tone or phototype
- Pending exact source review
- Race
- Pending exact source review
- Ethnicity
- Pending exact source review
- Body sites
- Pending exact source review
What that means for this page: This is explicitly gated as a safety claim, but exact population extraction is still pending. It cannot publish or support an estimate of individual risk until that review is complete.
Do not open, bypass, test, repair, or substitute lamps or electrical parts outside the exact current manual and authorized service route. If a lamp or assembly is damaged, stop and contact the manufacturer.
- Age range
- Pending exact source review
- Condition subtype
- Pending exact source review
- Severity or extent
- Pending exact source review
- Sample size
- Pending exact source review
- Geography and care setting
- Pending exact source review
- Skin tone or phototype
- Pending exact source review
- Race
- Pending exact source review
- Ethnicity
- Pending exact source review
- Body sites
- Pending exact source review
What that means for this page: This is explicitly gated as a safety claim, but exact population extraction is still pending. It cannot publish or support an estimate of individual risk until that review is complete.
Evidence behind this page
Sources
Each evidence badge opens the source and its limits. The full list stays available here.
- Phothera PhototherapyManufacturer · not independentIndependence not established
- Published
- 2026-03-03
- SteadySkin last checked
- 2026-07-31
What this source can and cannot tell you
What this source supports
Supports the current first-party route to Phothera device and accessory manuals and shows that instructions are model- and controller-specific.
What it does not support
It does not establish clinical suitability, comparative benefit, the condition of an individual unit, or that one manual applies to a related or legacy model; each exact linked manual and revision still requires verification.
Automated draft claim mapping withheld from reader-facing evidence details until clinical or editorial review is recorded. This page is not yet approved for indexing.
- Solarc Systems Inc.Manufacturer · not independentIndependence not established
- Published
- 2020-09-18
- SteadySkin last checked
- 2026-07-31
What this source can and cannot tell you
What this source supports
Supports first-party specifications and installation, electrical, protective-equipment, maintenance, and support boundaries for the named SolRx E-Series revision.
What it does not support
It does not support another SolRx family, confirm that this is the newest revision for an individual unit, establish clinical suitability, or prove comparative safety or effectiveness; the owner must verify the exact current manual with Solarc.
Automated draft claim mapping withheld from reader-facing evidence details until clinical or editorial review is recorded. This page is not yet approved for indexing.
- Zerigo Health, Inc.Manufacturer · not independentIndependence not established
- Published
- 2026-03-06
- SteadySkin last checked
- 2026-07-31
What this source can and cannot tell you
What this source supports
Supports Zerigo’s current first-party description of its United States prescription device, required mobile application, Member Guide, Care Guide support, data-enabled service model, transfer restrictions, and distinction between technical support and medical advice.
What it does not support
It does not independently establish comparative benefit, coverage, privacy quality, clinical suitability, or that the program terms will remain unchanged.
Automated draft claim mapping withheld from reader-facing evidence details until clinical or editorial review is recorded. This page is not yet approved for indexing.
- U.S. Food and Drug AdministrationRegulatory / guideline · independentIndependent source
- Published
- 2026-07-15
- SteadySkin last checked
- 2026-08-06
What this source can and cannot tell you
What this source supports
Supports that FDA posted an open Class II recall record for the exact Phothera 600/ClearLink population identified in that record and directs potentially affected owners to the firm’s official notice and technical-service route.
What it does not support
It does not apply to every Phothera product, every controller or every home phototherapy device, and it must not be used without checking the exact current model, unit identifiers, software scope, dates, and recall status in the live FDA record.
Automated draft claim mapping withheld from reader-facing evidence details until clinical or editorial review is recorded. This page is not yet approved for indexing.
- Phothera PhototherapyManufacturer · not independentIndependence not established
- Published
- 2026-07-09
- SteadySkin last checked
- 2026-07-31
What this source can and cannot tell you
What this source supports
Supports Phothera’s current first-party statement that it does not purchase, resell, accept, or dispose of used devices and that owners should use local device-recycling and mercury-containing-lamp routes.
What it does not support
It does not establish the law or available collection service in a reader’s jurisdiction, confirm the composition of an unverified lamp, apply to another manufacturer, or authorize a person to remove or repair hardware.
Automated draft claim mapping withheld from reader-facing evidence details until clinical or editorial review is recorded. This page is not yet approved for indexing.
- U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyRegulatory / guideline · independentIndependent source
- Published
- 2025-11-26
- SteadySkin last checked
- 2026-07-31
What this source can and cannot tell you
What this source supports
Supports EPA’s United States consumer recommendation to use available local recycling for fluorescent and other mercury-containing lamps and its warning that state and local requirements can be stricter.
What it does not support
It does not show that every phototherapy light source contains mercury, identify an individual lamp, select a recycler, or replace current state, local, facility, or manufacturer instructions.
Automated draft claim mapping withheld from reader-facing evidence details until clinical or editorial review is recorded. This page is not yet approved for indexing.
- U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyRegulatory / guideline · independentIndependent source
- Published
- 2025-10-16
- SteadySkin last checked
- 2026-07-31
What this source can and cannot tell you
What this source supports
Supports current United States household guidance for keeping people and pets away and following source-specific cleanup, ventilation, collection, and local-disposal steps after a mercury-containing bulb breaks.
What it does not support
It does not confirm that an individual phototherapy lamp contains mercury, cover every commercial or clinical setting, replace local requirements, address device repair, or triage an injury or possible exposure.
Automated draft claim mapping withheld from reader-facing evidence details until clinical or editorial review is recorded. This page is not yet approved for indexing.
- U.S. Food and Drug AdministrationRegulatory / guideline · independentIndependent source
- Published
- 2026-07-31
- SteadySkin last checked
- 2026-08-06
What this source can and cannot tell you
What this source supports
Supports the current FDA classification of ultraviolet lamps for dermatologic disorders as Class II medical devices.
What it does not support
It does not validate a marketplace listing, establish that a particular unit is genuine or cleared, determine a lawful transfer pathway, or show that a used device remains serviceable.
Automated draft claim mapping withheld from reader-facing evidence details until clinical or editorial review is recorded. This page is not yet approved for indexing.
- Electronic Code of Federal RegulationsRegulatory / guideline · independentIndependent source
- Published
- 2026-07-31
- SteadySkin last checked
- 2026-08-06
What this source can and cannot tell you
What this source supports
Supports the federal prescription-device labeling and distribution framework.
What it does not support
It does not decide whether a specific private transaction is lawful, replace state law, authorize a seller, transfer a prescription, or establish that a used unit is safe or supported.
Automated draft claim mapping withheld from reader-facing evidence details until clinical or editorial review is recorded. This page is not yet approved for indexing.
- National Psoriasis FoundationPatient education · independentIndependent source
- Published
- 2026-07-01
- SteadySkin last checked
- 2026-07-31
What this source can and cannot tell you
What this source supports
Supports the Foundation’s patient-facing interpretation that private transfer of a prescription phototherapy unit should be facilitated by a physician or licensed manufacturer or distributor.
What it does not support
It is not a regulator opinion, does not resolve every federal or state issue, and does not establish that a specific transaction or device is permitted, serviceable, or appropriate.
Automated draft claim mapping withheld from reader-facing evidence details until clinical or editorial review is recorded. This page is not yet approved for indexing.
- U.S. Federal Trade CommissionRegulatory / guideline · independentIndependent source
- Published
- 2022-09-30
- SteadySkin last checked
- 2026-08-06
What this source can and cannot tell you
What this source supports
Supports general US consumer guidance to check seller, product, payment, return and marketplace-protection terms before an online transaction and to preserve dispute options.
What it does not support
It does not validate a medical-device sale, inspect a unit, determine lawful transfer, replace a warranty, or guarantee recovery after fraud or damage.
Automated draft claim mapping withheld from reader-facing evidence details until clinical or editorial review is recorded. This page is not yet approved for indexing.