The box says
“648 LED lights for full-face coverage”
A count, not a dose
Every mask is sold on a count — 132 LEDs, 236, 648. A spectrometer at the mask surface tells you the dose: the mask with the most LEDs in our table ranks third, and one advertising 70 mW/cm² metered around 8. We rank on the independently measured number, cite the review on every row, show the marketing count muted beside it — and link each claim’s actual FDA 510(k) paper.
Four things per mask — the measured ones cited to the independent spectrometer review that produced them, the published ones traced to the brand’s own page or the FDA’s database. We run no tests ourselves and publish no measurement without a citation.
Power density at the skin in mW/cm², from a cited spectrometer test at the mask surface — the dose over the mask’s own session. Higher is better — and it ranks the table. Why this number →
The brand’s own headline — “648 LEDs,” “70 mW/cm²” — quoted exactly and shown muted beside the measurement. The label never ranks anything.
Every “FDA cleared” matched to its real 510(k) — the K-number, and whose paper it is (often an OEM, not the brand on the box). The full audit lives at the clearance record.
Minutes per session as designed, and a verified first-party price with its source and date. Stronger output usually means a shorter session — which is what you’ll actually stick with.
Showing … red / near-infrared LED masks · higher measured irradiance is better · measurements from the cited spectrometer reviews · prices last reviewed 2026-07
| # | Mask | Irradiance | LEDs | Wavelengths | FDA | Session | Price | Shop |
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Measured figures come from Light Therapy Insiders’ spectrometer tests (Alex Fergus — one tester, one instrument, measured at the mask surface; the review behind each number is linked on its row). We run no tests ourselves; full credit and protocol in the method. Where a review prints dose per session, the mW/cm² shown is that dose over its measured window — arithmetic, not a new measurement; hover a number for the working. LEDs is the marketing count, shown muted because it is a count, not a dose — note the 648-LED mask ranks third, and the mask advertising 70 mW/cm² metered 5–11. FDA = a real 510(k) behind the claim; whose paper it is — brand or OEM — is the line under each name, and the clearance record is the full audit. No cited measurement, no rank; no verified first-party price, no rank. Prices drift; the linked listing is authoritative. Some links are affiliate links; they never change a ranking.
These masks have real 510(k) paper behind their claims (each name links the sourced answer), but no measurement under the cited protocol — and numbers metered under different protocols at different distances don’t share a ruler. They sit here, unranked, until a citable figure exists. The claims we couldn’t match to the record at all — including two “7-colour” Amazon listings and one $455 surprise — are below the line in the audit.
The ranking tells you how much light reaches your skin. The clearance record tells you whose FDA paper each “cleared” claim actually rides — and the guides answer it brand by brand.