Tanning bed eye protection rules: who must provide goggles, and what the label says

What the federal rule requires

The federal eyewear rules for tanning beds and booths sit in the performance standard for sunlamp products, 21 CFR 1040.20. In its current form it covers units made on or after September 8, 1986, and FDA lists it among the rules that manufacturers of sunlamp products must comply with. The standard defines protective eyewear as "any device designed to be worn by users of a product to reduce exposure of the eyes to radiation emitted by the product." For eyewear, it requires four things:

• Enough eyewear with the unit. Each sunlamp product must come with as many sets of protective eyewear as the maximum number of people its instructions say can be exposed at the same time (paragraph (c)(4)(i)).
• A filter standard. The eyewear may let through no more than 0.001 of the radiation from above 200 through 320 nanometers and no more than 0.01 from above 320 through 400 nanometers, and it must let the user see clearly enough to reset the timer (paragraph (c)(4)(ii)).
• A warning on the unit. The label must include the words "WEAR PROTECTIVE EYEWEAR; FAILURE TO MAY RESULT IN SEVERE BURNS OR LONG-TERM INJURY TO THE EYES," permanently fixed where the person about to tan can read it just before use (paragraphs (d)(1)(i) and (d)(3)(i)).
• Instructions in the manual. The user instructions must state how many people may use the unit at once, warn that only that number of eyewear sets was provided, explain how to use the eyewear, and say how to get compatible replacement eyewear (paragraph (e)(1)).

None of this tells a salon to hand goggles to each client, clean them, give them away or turn away a client who refuses them. Those duties come from state law. The 2014 special controls at 21 CFR 878.4635, which added the under-18 warning label, do not mention eyewear either. FDA's December 2015 proposal to put an under-18 limit and a signed risk acknowledgment on tanning facilities was withdrawn as of March 16, 2026 (see the withdrawn under-18 rule). Our guide to FDA tanning bed regulations covers both federal rules.

What state law adds: five examples

States that regulate tanning salons turn the federal label into desk duties. Here is how five of them word it, taken from each state's own statute or rule and checked on September 29, 2026.

Texas stopped licensing tanning salons in 2015, and its health department repealed its old tanning licensing rules effective November 10, 2025. The eyewear duties in the Texas table row come from the statute, Health and Safety Code § 145.008, which still has them.

Other states word their rules differently, so check your own before you change anything at the desk. Start at tanning laws by state, or go straight to California, Florida, Maine, Rhode Island or Texas.

Free goggles: Texas and Maine say so in writing

Whether a salon must give eyewear away free has a short answer in two of the five states. Texas says the eyewear "shall be provided without charge to each user of a tanning device" and must be kept "in the immediate area of each tanning device." Maine requires that, before a customer uses a tanning device, the customer is "provided, at no cost, with properly sanitized and securely fitting protective eyewear."

Many salons also sell personal eyewear at the counter. In Texas and Maine that sale cannot replace the free pair: a client who does not buy one must still be given clean eyewear at no cost. California, Florida and Rhode Island require salons to provide eyewear, and the sections cited here do not address charging for it. Read your state's full rules before you put a price on the salon's own pair.

Cleaning reusable eyewear

California, Maine and Texas call for eyewear that is properly sanitized before each use, and so does Florida's statute. Florida's rule and Rhode Island's rule spell out how:

• Florida: trained staff clean and sanitize reusable eyewear after each use, with a sanitizer made for UV equipment and protective eyewear, registered with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and safe for the unit's acrylic. The solution's strength is tested at least twice a day of operation, and the bed's own UV light does not count as a sanitizer (rule 64E-17.002(2)(f) to (h) and (k)).
• Rhode Island: reusable eyewear is cleaned with an EPA-approved sanitizer after each use, and the sanitizer the rule names is one made for UV equipment and protective eyewear that does not damage the acrylic lamp covers. Single-use disposable eyewear is exempt as long as it is thrown away and never reused by another client. The solution is tested when it is mixed and at least weekly after that (section 24.7.1(B)).

See tanning bed sanitation for the rest of the room.

How much eyewear to keep, and whose

• Florida requires enough protective eyewear on the premises to equal the maximum number of people who can use your tanning devices at the same time (rule 64E-17.002(2)(j)).
• Florida and Rhode Island require eyewear that meets 21 CFR 1040.20(c)(4), and Texas requires eyewear that meets FDA requirements. When you buy replacements, ask the supplier to confirm the eyewear meets that paragraph. The unit's manual must tell you where to get compatible eyewear.
• Rhode Island lets a client use their own eyewear if it meets the rule. If someone has to be in the room to help a client, that person must also be given eyewear and wear it (sections 24.6.3(A)(1) and 24.6.4(D)(2)).

The eyewear promise in your client paperwork

Four of the five states put an eyewear agreement in the statement the client signs, and the fifth puts eyewear in the warning the client signs:

• Texas: before first use, and each time a person signs or renews a contract, they show photo ID and sign a statement that they have read and understood the warnings and agree to use protective eyewear (§ 145.008(e)).
• Florida: the statute calls for the signed statement "each time a person uses a tanning facility or executes or renews a contract to use a tanning facility," and the Department of Health rule asks for it before the first exposure. For a minor between 14 and 18, the parent's or guardian's signed statement must agree that the minor will use the provided protective eyewear (§ 381.89(6)(g) and (7); rule 64E-17.004(6)).
• California: every person signs before using the device and agrees to use the eyewear the salon provides, and current customers renew the acknowledgment at the end of each calendar year (§ 22706(b)(1)).
• Maine: the signed statement includes an agreement that the customer will use protective eyewear, given before the customer's first use of that tanning device in the calendar year (§ 689-A(4)).
• Rhode Island: the warning statement signed at the first visit, and at least every 12 months after, includes "Not wearing protective eyewear while tanning may cause injury to the eyes" (section 24.6.1).

Texas also wants the exceptions written down. The salon's incident log must list each use of a tanning device by a customer not wearing protective eyewear, and the log stays at the salon for at least three years from the incident (§ 145.008(j)). See tanning consent forms and tanning salon recordkeeping.

What to do at the front desk

1. Read your own state's rule first. Who pays, how often the client re-signs and whether a client may bring their own pair all differ. Start at tanning laws by state.
2. Stock enough clean eyewear for everyone who can tan at the same time, and keep it where the client tans. In Texas it has to be in the immediate area of each device.
3. Hand eyewear over at every UV session instead of waiting to be asked, and explain it to first-timers. Texas requires the operator to tell each first-time customer that protective eyewear must be worn.
4. Do not charge for the salon's eyewear in Texas or Maine. If you sell personal pairs, ring them up as retail and keep the free pair on offer.
5. Sanitize reusable eyewear after each use with a sanitizer made for it, or use single-use eyewear and throw it away. Under the Florida and Rhode Island rules, the bed's UV light is not a sanitizer.
6. Do not start a session for a client who will not wear eyewear. A towel or closed eyes is not a device designed to be worn to reduce eye exposure, which is how the federal rule defines protective eyewear.
7. Check a client's own goggles before accepting them. Rhode Island allows them only if they meet the rule, Texas requires eyewear that meets FDA requirements, and California's statute has the client use the eyewear the salon provides.
8. Get the eyewear agreement signed before the first session, and have it signed again on your state's schedule.
9. In Texas, record every session where the client did not wear eyewear in the incident log, and keep the log for three years.
10. Train staff on it. Florida's operator course must cover eye protection, and Rhode Island's staff training must cover the proper use of protective eyewear and how to sanitize it.

How TanVision helps

TanVision's built-in consent form has its own eyewear section. The client agrees that "protective eyewear is required for every session, that closing my eyes or using a towel is not adequate protection, and that the salon will provide eyewear if I do not have my own." The salon can change that wording to match its state, for example to say its eyewear is free, and each signed record keeps the exact words the client agreed to. TanVision will not start a session until the client has a signed warning statement on file.

Protective eyewear can also be set up as a retail item, with stock that counts down on each sale. TanVision does not record whether a client wore eyewear on a given visit, so a Texas incident log still has to be kept. See consent forms and retail and lotion inventory, or book a demo.