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Our Story
Why Erchonia · Our story
Thirty years of innovation.
Erchonia began with a very human truth: pain changes lives — and the solutions people are offered don’t always heal them.
Before we were a laser company, we were a family searching for answers. That search began when U.S. Army veteran Chuck Shanks — a paratrooper, father and lifelong athlete — found himself living with chronic pain that medicine couldn’t fix. Like millions of people, he was offered two options: drugs or surgery. And like millions, he wanted something better. That desire for something better didn’t lead to a business plan. It led to a mission.
- Family-owned and operated
- Built in the U.S.A.
- First FDA clearance for LLLT, 2002
- 25 FDA clearances
- Level 1 clinical trials
Passion meets innovation.Healing should be safe, proven and accessible — and the tools that support it should honor that responsibility.
1996
the year the work on 3LT® began that led to the first clearance
2002
the first FDA clearance ever granted for low-level laser therapy
25
FDA clearances — more than any other laser company in the world
100%
of devices built in the U.S., by a company that is still family-owned
Where it started
A family searching for answers.
What started as one family’s search for relief became a company built around a simple belief.
Healing should be safe, proven and accessible — and the tools that support it should honor that responsibility. We didn’t enter the medical field to blend in. We entered to push forward. Erchonia wasn’t shaped by corporate strategy or investor mandates. It was shaped by people — engineers, doctors, educators, researchers and practitioners who saw the same gap we did: a world that needed alternatives to pain medications, invasive procedures and temporary outcomes. Low-level laser therapy was that alternative. We just had to prove it.
The decision
Real, measurable, backed by science that mattered.
From day one, we made a decision that would define everything that followed: if we were going to make medical lasers, they had to be real.
01
Level 1 trials
Pursue rigorous, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trials for every indication — the highest standard in clinical testing.
02
More clearances than anyone
Earn more FDA clearances than any other laser company in the world, each on Erchonia’s own data.
03
True laser diodes
Develop technology built around true laser diodes — coherent, collimated light — not LEDs.
04
Outcomes over trends
Work with educators and physicians who prioritize patient outcomes over industry trends.
We didn’t take the fastest route. We took the right one. Because we don’t build devices for shelf space — we build tools for real people, facing real challenges, who deserve something better.
Innovation
Technology changes quickly. Integrity shouldn’t.
Erchonia has grown, but the heart of the company has never changed.
We’re still family-owned and operated. We still build every device in the U.S. We still obsess over details, because details change outcomes. And we still wake up every day with the same purpose that started this journey: to help people feel whole again.
More than a business
A promise.
People don’t come to Erchonia for a product. They come because they believe in what we believe.
Throughout our history we’ve learned something powerful: healing should be approached with curiosity, respect and real scientific rigor. And as the applications for laser therapy continue to expand into new fields — pain, fat reduction, brain health, veterinary care, podiatry, dentistry and beyond — we’re more committed than ever to pushing the boundaries of what laser technology can do. Our story isn’t about where we started. It’s about what that beginning made possible.
- For doctors
- For patients
- For families
- For the future of medicine
Erchonia. Passion meets innovation.
Next step
Be part of the story.
Bring Erchonia’s lasers into your practice, or find a provider near you.