OBJECTIVE: to map the scientific literature on photobiomodulation and photodynamic therapy in the treatment of pressure injuries. METHOD: this was a scoping review, as recommended by the Joanna Briggs Institute. It included primary and secondary studies available in full in Portuguese, English and Spanish, published in the last 10 years, from 2014 to 2024, in nine databases. RESULTS: 24 studies were included according to the eligibility criteria. The findings suggest that photobiomodulation and photodynamics can play an important role in tissue repair, size reduction and improvement of clinical indicators in the management of pressure injuries. A diversity of laser types used in photobiomodulation was observed and the most common wavelengths used included 658 nm, 660 nm, 808 nm and 980 nm. CONCLUSION: the studies identified show that photobiomodulation and photodynamic therapies have promising results in healing, reducing the size of lesions and improving clinical indicators in the treatment of pressure injuries. BACKGROUND: (1) Light therapies are effective in treating pressure injuries. (2) Optimized healing is a promising result of the therapies studied. (3) Reduction in lesion size is a positive effect of the therapies used. (4) There is clinical improvement shown in the indicators in the studies reviewed.