For people considering or using clinician-directed narrowband UVB, and their caregivers
What this page helps you do
Prepare to discuss what your clinician may review, what to observe and report, and which instructions must come from your care team and the exact device manual. Your prescriber creates and changes your treatment plan.
- Your task
- Understand the current definition, evidence boundary, practical burden, and questions that affect fit.
- 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.
Can a tanning bed stand in for medical phototherapy?
No. A commercial tanning device and prescribed narrowband UVB are not interchangeable. A tanning booth is not a shortcut around a medical light-treatment plan. Evidence Evidence
Why this matters
Medical guidance separates sunlight, tanning devices, narrowband UVB, PUVA, and targeted light because the light source, treatment purpose, controls, and safety steps differ.
What can I learn here—and what must come from my care team?
Use these questions to prepare, observe, record, and report. Your prescriber decides whether to start, continue, change, pause, or restart treatment, and the current instructions for your exact device govern its operation. Evidence Evidence
Why this matters
Phototherapy guidance places assessment, prescribing, monitoring, and decisions about reactions within a clinical service. Skin products, sun exposure, medicine changes, interruptions, shielding, and device changes may all need advice specific to your plan.
What will my clinician review before I start?
Guidelines describe reviewing the diagnosis and how it appears, current medicines, sensitivity to light, skin-cancer history, prior ultraviolet treatment, pregnancy, and other individual risks. Use this as a conversation starter—not as a self-test that says NB-UVB is or is not safe for you. Evidence
Why this matters
Some factors can rule treatment out in a particular situation. Others may change the risk–benefit discussion, monitoring, or treatment choice. A clinician who knows your diagnosis and current health context has to interpret them.
What should I know about protecting my eyes?
Use only the eye protection approved for your exact device or by your phototherapy team. Keep it on unless that team gives you a specific plan for treating the eyelids. Evidence Evidence Evidence
Why this matters
Protection depends on documented compatibility with the device, as well as fit and condition. Sunglasses, prescription glasses, contact lenses, tanning eyewear, and medical-phototherapy protection are not automatically interchangeable.
Will a reaction always be obvious by looking at my skin?
No. A color change can be subtle or hard to interpret, especially in deeper skin tones. Know what your skin looks and feels like before treatment, and report pain, tenderness, heat, swelling, blistering, marked itching, or another concerning change. No visible redness does not mean you should change the plan yourself. Evidence Evidence
Why this matters
A useful reaction record includes more than a color label: when the concern appeared, which areas were involved, what you could feel, and how it changed. That information can help your clinical team understand what happened.
Does safety guidance change with the condition being treated?
Yes. Using the same kind of equipment does not make the reasons for treatment, alternatives, or monitoring identical across conditions. Vitiligo decisions should use vitiligo guidance as well as phototherapy guidance. Use psoriasis-specific guidance for psoriasis decisions. Evidence Evidence Evidence
Why this matters
Condition-specific guidelines discuss different goals, patterns, alternatives, and evidence limits. General phototherapy safety information can explain shared boundaries, but it cannot erase those differences.
What if the device displays an error or behaves unexpectedly?
Stop and use the manufacturer’s official support route rather than testing, opening, bypassing, or repairing the device yourself. If you are in the United States, use the FDA route when a medical-device problem should also be reported to the regulator. Evidence Evidence Evidence Evidence
Why this matters
The exact model, unit identifiers, manual revision, displayed message, and a factual description of what happened can help the manufacturer route the problem. Any effect on your skin or health should also go to your treating team.
Questions that can change the next decision
- For your clinicianWhat information should I gather before I contact the manufacturer?Saving keeps this on your device and needs JavaScript, which is off in this browser.
- For your clinicianWhat should I report separately to my phototherapy team?Saving keeps this on your device and needs JavaScript, which is off in this browser.
Evidence and update context
This optional layer shows the evidence boundary reviewed for this page as of 2026-08-04.
- What this evidence supports
- Medical guidance separates sunlight, tanning devices, narrowband UVB, PUVA, and targeted light because the light source, treatment purpose, controls, and safety steps differ.
- What it does not establish
- A website cannot turn any ultraviolet source into a personal plan. If cost, travel, or access is pushing you toward a substitute, bring that barrier to your care team before exposing your skin.
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.
No. A commercial tanning device and prescribed narrowband UVB are not interchangeable. A tanning booth is not a shortcut around a medical light-treatment plan.
- 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.
Use these questions to prepare, observe, record, and report. Your prescriber decides whether to start, continue, change, pause, or restart treatment, and the current instructions for your exact device govern its operation.
- 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.
Guidelines describe reviewing the diagnosis and how it appears, current medicines, sensitivity to light, skin-cancer history, prior ultraviolet treatment, pregnancy, and other individual risks. Use this as a conversation starter—not as a self-test that says NB-UVB is or is not safe for you.
- 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.
Use only the eye protection approved for your exact device or by your phototherapy team. Keep it on unless that team gives you a specific plan for treating the eyelids.
- 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.
No. A color change can be subtle or hard to interpret, especially in deeper skin tones. Know what your skin looks and feels like before treatment, and report pain, tenderness, heat, swelling, blistering, marked itching, or another concerning change. No visible redness does not mean you should change the plan yourself.
- 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.
Yes. Using the same kind of equipment does not make the reasons for treatment, alternatives, or monitoring identical across conditions. Vitiligo decisions should use vitiligo guidance as well as phototherapy guidance. Use psoriasis-specific guidance for psoriasis decisions.
- 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.
Stop and use the manufacturer’s official support route rather than testing, opening, bypassing, or repairing the device yourself. If you are in the United States, use the FDA route when a medical-device problem should also be reported to the regulator.
- 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
- 2026-07-31
- SteadySkin last checked
- 2026-07-31
What this source can and cannot tell you
What this source supports
Supports that patients, consumers, and health professionals can use FDA MedWatch to report serious reactions, product-quality problems, product-use errors, and other serious problems involving human medical products, including medical devices.
What it does not support
It does not determine whether a report is required, prove causation, replace clinical care, or replace the manufacturer’s equipment-support route.
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.
- Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and VenereologyRegulatory / guideline · not independentRelevant relationship disclosed
- Published
- 2023-09-25
- SteadySkin last checked
- 2026-07-31
What this source can and cannot tell you
Why the independence label says this: The journal is the publisher. This label refers to extensive author relationships disclosed for the recommendation, not to the journal itself.
What this source supports
It supports current expert-consensus terminology, clinical assessment, disease-activity evaluation, treatment-goal discussion, and shared decision-making.
What it does not support
It is not independent comparative proof. It cannot diagnose a reader from a description or photograph.
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.
- British Journal of Dermatology (Eleftheriadou V, et al.)Regulatory / guideline · independentIndependent source
- Published
- 2022-01-01
- SteadySkin last checked
- 2026-07-31
What this source can and cannot tell you
What this source supports
Supports the clinical history and assessment domains, evaluation of associated autoimmune conditions, its recommendation for thyroid function and antithyroid antibody screening, current classification context, treatment-option map, psychosocial assessment, medical photography and the limits of pediatric evidence.
What it does not support
It was designed for UK care and reviewed literature through May 2019; it does not establish a universal testing plan, prescribe an individual plan, or establish current US labeling or coverage.
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.
- British Journal of Dermatology (Goulden V, et al.)Regulatory / guideline · independentIndependent source
- Published
- 2022-09-01
- SteadySkin last checked
- 2026-07-29
What this source can and cannot tell you
What this source supports
It supports that traditional NB-UVB fluorescent lamps emit a narrow UVB band peaking around 311 nanometres, plus clinical uses, comparisons with other ultraviolet treatments, and safety boundaries including sunburn-type reactions.
What it does not support
It does not provide a personal treatment plan or establish any home-use setting. SteadySkin never reproduces its treatment schedules.
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.
- British Association of DermatologistsPatient education · independentIndependent source
- Published
- 2022-06-01
- SteadySkin last checked
- 2026-07-29
What this source can and cannot tell you
What this source supports
It supports a plain-language explanation that NB-UVB uses a small part of the UVB spectrum, is used for conditions including psoriasis, eczema, and vitiligo, and is distinct from sunlight or a sunbed.
What it does not support
It is patient education, not primary evidence for an efficacy claim. Its own review date must remain current before SteadySkin relies on it.
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.