r/redlighttherapy: rules, karma requirements and posting culture

Who posts here

There is a Complete Newbie flair and about 9% of posts use it, with Question on another 21%. Typical posts ask whether a mask is worth the money, how far to sit from a panel, or what infrared is for. A smaller group talks irradiance, wavelengths and output at treatment distance. A basic question is allowed, but the rules ask you to search first and read the recommended brands sticky before asking which brand to buy.

• First-time buyers deciding between a mask, a panel and a handheld, often before spending real money.
• People with a specific complaint: joint or back pain, fine lines, hair loss, recovery after surgery.
• New owners asking about distance, session length and eye protection.
• A smaller technical crowd comparing specs, measuring output and building their own stands.
• Shoppers trying to work out which brands make their own panels and which relabel imports.

Karma and account requirements

What it takes to get a post through in r/redlighttherapy.

What you can post

What happens to a new post

Where the most recent posts ended up. Sample size: 400.

• Stayed up83%
• Removed by Reddit's filters16%
• Deleted by the author1%

Reddit counts a removal by the subreddit's own AutoModerator rules as a moderator removal, so that share is not all human. Held by AutoModerator means the post is waiting in the mod queue.

What happened when we posted here

We have posted here ourselves. This is how our own posts and comments fared.

Stayed up

99%

Removed by Reddit's filters

1%

Removed by moderators

0%

Period

January 2026 to August 2026

The rules, in the mods' words

1. 1

   No Advertising

   No promotions of your brand, no affiliate codes, no affiliate linking.

2. 2

   High Quality Posts

   Please keep your post unique and with substance. For example " is this product good " with a link or picture only is a low quality post and will likely get removed. Please search the subreddit before posting. Please look at our recommended brands sticky post before asking for basic brand recommendations.

3. 3

   No Private Sales

   No private sales allowed whatsoever, in order to avoid scams.

4. 4

   Be Respectful

   Be respectful, treat other members with kindness, and respect the opinions of other members. No insulting or harassment.

These are the rules as archived in January 2025. Rules change. Check the sidebar before you post.

The culture

r/redlighttherapy has about 120,000 members and has grown fast, from around 46,000 in 2024. It works as a buyer's forum. Someone is about to spend money on a panel or a mask, or has just unboxed one, and asks the room what to expect. About 71% of posts are text, the median post is 55 words, and around 42% of titles are questions.

The topics split in two. One side is skin: masks, fine lines, dark circles, texture. The other is the body: panels for pain, recovery, sleep and hair. Running through both is a spec conversation about wavelengths, irradiance and near infrared, and a steady suspicion that many brands sell the same imported panel under a different logo.

The subreddit's own description tells people not to ask for medical advice and not to treat anything posted as medical advice. People ask health questions anyway, about wounds, medication and moles, and those posts stay up but draw few replies. Moderation is light. There were no moderator removals in our sample of 400 posts.

What lands

• An honest "does this really work" question before a big purchase. One of the most discussed recent posts was exactly that, about masks.
• A newcomer question with real context: your age, the body part, what you want it for. The top recent post was someone in their 60s asking about a small device for knees.
• Questions about the studies behind a claim, such as fat loss.
• DIY and hands-on posts, like a home-made holder for mounting a panel horizontally.
• Your own measurements. A post testing one panel's output at different distances pulled a good thread.

What gets removed or ignored

• Brand promotion in any form, including affiliate codes and affiliate links. The first rule bans all three.
• A bare "is this product good" with a link or a picture and no detail. The rules say this will likely get removed.
• Private sales of used or new devices. The rules ban them outright to avoid scams.
• Insults and harassment toward other members.
• About 16% of posts in our sample were removed by Reddit's own filters. Our data does not show why.

The unwritten rules

• Expect a quiet room. The median post gets 4 comments and the top posts of the period sit around 30 points. Judge a post by whether you got an answer.
• Give the model, the wavelengths and what you are treating. Posts with a title and an image but no body text are common and get little back.
• Brand names are everywhere, because the whole subject is which device to buy. Naming what you own is normal. Pushing one brand is what the rules are aimed at.
• Be ready for skepticism about specs. People here ask where a panel is made and whether the maker publishes output at treatment distance.
• Keep health questions as requests for other people's experience, and say what your doctor told you. The description says not to ask for medical advice.

Self-promotion

The rule is short: no promotions of your brand, no affiliate codes, no affiliate linking. A separate rule bans private sales. In practice the subreddit is full of product talk, because nearly every thread is about which device to buy, so a brand name in a post is not a problem by itself. What the rules target is the owner or affiliate doing the talking. There were no moderator removals in our sample to show how hard that line is enforced, so the safe reading is the literal one: share experience as a user, and keep codes, links and your own brand out of it.

How people write here

Typical post length

55 words

Typical title length

6 words

Titles phrased as a question

42%

Typical comment length

25 words

Comments that include a link

3%

Posts that carry a flair

36%

Top keywords

The words and phrases that show up far more often here than in other communities, from recent posts in r/redlighttherapy.

• red light 160 posts
• light therapy 91 posts
• mask 89 posts
• panel 104 posts
• rlt 47 posts
• hooga 26 posts
• nir 25 posts
• led 51 posts
• masks 32 posts
• irradiance 20 posts
• skin 61 posts
• wavelengths 21 posts
• light mask 22 posts
• device 48 posts
• wavelength 20 posts
• panels 31 posts
• light panel 17 posts
• led mask 17 posts
• face 47 posts
• currentbody 17 posts
• body 43 posts
• face mask 15 posts
• current body 13 posts
• specs 21 posts
• body series 10 posts
• infrared 13 posts
• healing 18 posts
• blue light 12 posts
• mito 11 posts
• biomax 8 posts
• omnilux 10 posts
• leds 11 posts
• mw cm 7 posts
• light device 7 posts
• neck 16 posts
• therapy panel 8 posts
• alibaba 13 posts
• full body 11 posts
• distance 16 posts
• bought 29 posts

Recurring topics: red light therapy, mask, panel, led, device, skin, led mask, hair growth, results, panels.

Growth

1. 20175
2. 2019583
3. 20201.8k
4. 20213.7k
5. 20227.4k
6. 202316k
7. 202446k
8. 202576k
9. 2026120k

Related subreddits

• r/SkincareAddictionLux

Common questions