Can You Wear Jewelry in Red Light Therapy?

Red light therapy is popular for boosting skin health and healing, but many people wonder if it’s safe to keep their jewelry on during a session. 

Can metal, gold, or gemstones affect the light or your results? Let’s uncover how jewelry interacts with red light and what you should know before your next session.

• Remove Metal Jewelry: Rings, bracelets, and necklaces can block or reflect red light, reducing therapy effectiveness.
  
  

• Protect Your Skin: Metals may heat slightly and cause minor discomfort during sessions.
  
  

• Preserve Your Jewelry: Taking off jewelry prevents scratches, corrosion, or damage from light exposure.
  
  

• Ensure Even Light Penetration: Jewelry-free skin allows the red and near-infrared light to reach all treated areas.
  
  

• Choose Safe Materials: High-quality metals like platinum, titanium, or 14k gold reduce allergy risks and maintain durability.

You should remove jewelry during red light therapy. Metals like gold, silver, and copper reflect or absorb red and near-infrared light, reducing effectiveness and potentially heating slightly. 

Gemstones generally remain safe, but darker or treated stones can block light. Removing jewelry prevents skin irritation, device scratches, and ensures even light penetration for maximum therapy results.

Different jewelry materials interact with red and near-infrared (NIR) light in distinct ways. Metals such as gold, silver, and platinum mainly reflect this light, while tarnished or oxidized surfaces absorb more and heat up. 

Gemstones vary by refractive index and color, clear stones like quartz transmit more light, while darker stones like ruby or sapphire absorb more. 

Reflective coatings such as rhodium further alter light behavior. Understanding these optical properties helps engineers improve the accuracy of wearable sensors that use red or NIR light.

The polish and texture of jewelry affect how red and near-infrared (NIR) light interacts with the skin. 

Smooth, shiny metals reflect more light, reducing skin exposure, while rough or brushed finishes scatter it. Metals like copper absorb more energy and heat faster than reflective ones like silver. 

Gemstones also influence absorption: diamonds transmit more NIR light, while colored stones absorb specific wavelengths. 

When jewelry is near the skin, it can block, scatter, or reflect therapeutic light, reducing red light therapy effectiveness.

Metal jewelry can interfere with light-based sensors by reflecting or blocking red and near-infrared (NIR) light. 

Devices like pulse oximeters and heart rate monitors depend on this light passing through or reflecting off the skin. 

Reflective metals in rings, bracelets, or watchbands can distort readings or cause false signals. Even small jewelry pieces near the sensor can weaken light transmission and reduce accuracy. 

Modern wearables use calibration and multi-wavelength sensors to limit these effects, but removing jewelry ensures the most accurate results.

Gemstone color strongly affects how red and near-infrared (NIR) light passes through it. Clear or pale stones like diamond and quartz transmit most NIR light, while darker gems such as emerald and ruby absorb more. 

Impurities such as chromium or iron alter both color and light absorption. Cut and polish also influence transmission, smooth cabochon cuts pass more light than faceted ones that scatter it. 

Coatings and metal settings change reflection and transmission, showing how both gemstone properties and jewelry design determine infrared interaction.

When choosing jewelry, it’s important to know which materials may irritate your skin or lose their shine over time. 

Metals like nickel, cobalt, and chromium are the most common causes of allergic reactions, with nickel being the biggest offender, often found in costume jewelry and even mixed into white gold or silver for durability. 

Copper and brass can also trigger reactions, especially for those with metal sensitivities. According to findings shared in the Scientific Reports Journal, people who experience inflammation from pierced earrings are far more likely to develop metal allergies, particularly to nickel, palladium, and cobalt, because moisture and sweat can cause these metals to release ions that irritate the skin. 

Beyond allergies, low-quality or imitation jewelry can contain harmful substances like lead or cadmium, which pose long-term health risks. 

Additionally, environmental factors like humidity and sweat can speed up tarnishing and corrosion, especially in metals such as silver and copper, while dulling pearls and delicate gemstones. 

To stay safe, choose high-quality metals like platinum, titanium, or 14k gold and avoid cheap alloys or plated pieces that can damage both your skin and your jewelry.

• Remove metals before treatment: Rings, necklaces, bracelets, and other metallic accessories can reflect or absorb the light, reducing the effectiveness of therapy.
  
  

• Prevent discomfort: Some metals may heat up slightly during the session, which can cause minor burns or discomfort.
  
  

• Protect your skin and device: Taking off jewelry avoids scratches or damage to both your skin and the red light device.
  
  

• Maximize results: Keeping the treated area jewelry-free ensures even light penetration, helping the therapy work better.

Remove metal jewelry before red light therapy to ensure maximum light absorption and prevent slight heating. External pieces can block or reflect light, reducing effectiveness. Internal implants are safe, as light doesn’t heat them. Piercings are generally fine unless new, inflamed, or covering the treatment area.

Jewelry, especially metal pieces like gold, silver, or copper, can block red and near-infrared light by reflecting, absorbing, or refracting it. This prevents light from reaching the skin, so removing jewelry during red light therapy ensures full, consistent exposure and maximizes treatment effectiveness.

There is minimal risk of jewelry heating under standard LED red light therapy, as it uses light, not heat. However, remove jewelry to prevent light blockage and protect delicate gemstones. Large metal pieces may warm slightly but not dangerously; gold, silver, and platinum remain completely safe.

Gemstones are generally safe during red light therapy, which uses visible and infrared light, not UV. However, remove jewelry, especially treated or sensitive stones, to prevent color fading and ensure effective skin exposure. Metals like gold and silver are unaffected, but safe removal and storage are recommended.