# Lifelight

> Light that Protects Life. Lifelight is a touch-free, wall-mounted hand hygiene unit from Lifelight Scientific (Michigan, USA). It uses 222 nm Far-UVC light in place of alcohol-based hand rub (hand sanitizer gel). Hands in, light on, nothing left behind: seconds per use, no refills, no residue, no consumables.

Lifelight won the Fast Company World Changing Ideas Award in 2022. Fast Company wrote: "This hand sanitizer could radically change how we sterilize our hands."

The full text of every page is in [llms-full.txt](https://lifelight.io/llms-full.txt).

## Pages

- [Home](https://lifelight.io/): what Lifelight is, how hands spread hospital infections and what those infections cost, how it works, evidence, sustainability, running cost, where it works, founders, demo request.
- [The science of 222 nm](https://lifelight.io/science.html): why Far-UVC is absorbed in the dead outer layer of skin, dose–response data for viruses, bacteria and spores, 2022 ACGIH exposure limits, results on hands, the light source, 18 references.
- [Alcohol hand gel vs Far-UVC](https://lifelight.io/compare.html): what each method inactivates, how alcohol rub is used in practice, a cost and carbon calculator, day-to-day differences.
- [FAQ](https://lifelight.io/faq.html): safety, efficacy, operation, cost and sustainability.

## Key facts

- Wavelength: 222 nm Far-UVC from a krypton-chloride excimer source. Mercury-free.
- Light source life: 8,000–10,000 hours. No refills or consumables.
- Safety: 222 nm is absorbed in the stratum corneum (the dead outer skin layer, 5–20 µm) and the tear film, so it does not reach living cells. ACGIH 2022 8-hour limits at 222 nm: 160 mJ/cm² (eye), 480 mJ/cm² (skin).
- Breadth: alcohol rub does not inactivate C. difficile spores and has limited activity against norovirus. 222 nm is sporicidal and inactivated a norovirus surrogate by 3.4 log on surfaces.
- Hands and infection: 20–40% of healthcare-associated infections are spread on staff hands (Weinstein 1991). Better hand hygiene cut infections by 41% in Geneva (Pittet 2000).
- Compliance: alcohol rub works when used properly, but observed rub times average 7.6 s against a 20–30 s guideline, and doses are often about 1 mL.
- Running cost: about $2.20 a year per unit in electricity at 200 uses a day, including standby (modeled at 30 W for 10 s per use, 1 W standby, $0.15/kWh). The equivalent gel for that unit over the same period is far higher; see the calculator on the compare page.
- Carbon: about 0.9 g CO₂e per 3 mL alcohol rub use versus about 0.08 g CO₂e per Lifelight use (U.S. grid average, 0.37 kg CO₂e/kWh). Gel's footprint also includes manufacturing, packaging, shipping, storage and waste.
- Settings: hospitals and clinics, long-term care, airports and transit, schools and universities, hotels and hospitality.

## Founders

- Douglas Crosby, M.S., M.D.: board-certified emergency medicine physician. Co-founder and co-inventor.
- Todd Bracher: founder of Betterlab (https://www.betterlab.com), which brings together proven science and emerging technology through design. More than 200 products in production, three-time International Designer of the Year, Fulbright Scholar. Co-founder and co-inventor.

## Contact

- Demo requests: https://lifelight.io/#demo
- Email: hello@lifelight.io