Our hand hygiene needs an update.


Now more than ever.

Handwashing isn't Effective Enough.

Soap is effective at removing dirt and grime, but surprisingly weak at germ and virus removal.

 

30 seconds of handwashing removes less than 60% of pathogens and 97% of people do not wash for 30 seconds [1,2].

 

Even if soap & water removed 100% of germs, our phones rapidly recontaminate our hands.

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Finnish investigators demonstrated that after frequent washing the hands of patient-care providers became damaged and posed greater risk to themselves and patients than if they had washed less often [3].

Hand Sanitizer is FDA Unapproved

In January 2020, the FDA reclassified Purell's hand sanitizer as an "unapproved new drug" [1].

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‘While alcohol-based hand rubs generally have a broader and relatively rapid antimicrobial activity, they are often limited in their ability to inactivate non-enveloped viruses’[2]

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Hand sanitizer companies base their germ-killing claims off of idealized lab settings, not field conditions.

 

Frequently asked questions

How will I use HALO?

To activate the germicidal light of a HALO, you will simply move your hands through the ring. Once the HALO senses your hands, you will see a thin cyan-colored light on your hands.
Slowly extend your hands through the HALO so that the line of light bathes everything from your fingertips to your wrist.

After five seconds of movement, the HALO's light will turn off, signaling the end of the cycle. Congratulations! You will now be decontaminated with just light.



How will HALO inactivate germs, viruses, and bacteria?

HALOs will disinfect your hands & phone in seconds with germicidal UV-C light.

The high-energy light is readily absorbed by bacteria, germs, viruses, fungi, mold, and microorganisms on your skin. When these pathogens absorb the UV-C light, their DNA is scrambled, rendering them harmless and unable to multiply. Most micro organisms require a 'UV-C' Dose of ~20 mJ per square centimeter for a 99% overall inactivation rate. HALO will be tuned to emit between 30mJ and 40mJ per square centimeter. Visit our 'Lab Results' page to view the required UV-C to kill a wide selection of bacteria & viruses.



I thought UV light was dangerous?

Ultraviolet is dangerous, to both germs and living human cells. HALO emits specialized UV-C light in doses too weak to penetrate human skin, but energetic enough to sterilize pathogens on the skin’s surface.

Ultraviolet radiation, or UV light, is an umbrella term for the spectrum of photons with wavelengths between 100 nanometers and 400 nanometers. UV light has shorter wavelengths than visible light and larger wavelengths than X-rays.

UV is broken down into three sub-categories:

UV-A: 315 - 400nm UV-B: 280 - 315nm UV-C: 100 - 280nm

UV-A contains light such as black light, nail curing light, and tanning booth light. This is longer wavelength UV light that penetrates skin deeply and can cause carcinogenic effects by altering DNA of cells deep within the epidermal layer.

UV-B is the most dangerous part of the spectrum. This is the wavelength generally responsible for sunburns and skin cancer from overexposure while you're outside. UV-B is partly blocked by the atmosphere, but is more prevalent in days with a high 'UV index'.

UV-C, or germicidal light, has higher energy but a smaller wavelength. Short wavelength UV-C light rapidly inactivates germs on the skin but is effectively scattered in our top layer of dead skin. In most cases of overexposure, UV-C light has only be shown to cause minor irritation (skin erythema).

The top layer of your skin is composed of dead skin cells, called the stratum corneum. This layer of skin absorbs excess UV-C light, protecting the other layers of the epidermis (living skin) below. The short-wavelength light HALO will emit is reduced to 37% of its incident energy every 2 microns of stratum corneum. The average human hand has a stratum corneum of 20 - 30 microns thick. Therefore, appropriate wavelengths of UV-C Light loses over 99% of its energy before it interacts with the human epidermis, underneath the dead skin cell layer. Please note: HALO has not yet been evaluated as an FDA approved product.



Will HALO get rid of grime, dirt, and oils?

No, HALO is intended only for inactivating the DNA or RNA of microorganisms, such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, mold, etc. Soap & water are the best way to remove dirt, grime, oils, and other macro-particles from your hands.
After you wash your hands with soap & water, you will want to use HALO for pathogen deactivation!



Does UV-C light really remove 99.99% of pathogens?

UV-C light inactivates between 0-100% bacteria on your hands, depending primarily on the UV-C dose. A UV-C dose is simply the energy output (photons emitted per second) multiplied by the exposure time (seconds).

If a pathogen is not exposed to a proper UV-C dose (~ 5-30mJ), it will not be inactivated. HALO will be engineered to provide a proper UV-C dose to every square centimeter of your skin. Studies demonstrate that 30mJ of UV-C light inactivates over 99.99% of most common pathogens on non-porous surfaces.

Studies show that a full 100% sterilization effect is possible with UV-C light. The remaining bacteria only persist if it did not receive a proper UV-C dosage.



I have more questions!

We love questions! HALO utliizes a lot of complex science and non-intuitive photochemical interactions. Please email any questions to info@WaveHalo.com and we will add our answer to the FAQ!
 During our development, we have our lab results and research pages password protected. Please request a password via email to access our deeper data & guiding clinical data.