![]() ![]() Oximeters can be a valuable tool for gauging your health. It’s a matter of access and affordability.” What are the downsides of using an oximeter? “It’s one number to be used along with everything else when you either call or do a televisit with your healthcare provider and say, ‘This is how I’m feeling,’ ,’” he says. “The more information you have about what to do about the number on the pulse oximeter, the better you’ll be able to handle it,” he says. If you do get an oximeter, Rizzo recommends speaking with your physician about it so you have context for what the numbers it displays mean for you. (Physical pulse oximeters that link to a phone app to track readings are medically fine, though may cost you more for that feature.) ![]() This means the technology of a phone oximeter app is fundamentally different than an actual device, so if you’re relying on an oximeter for clear, consistent data, it’s best to stay old-school until more testing is done on phone oximeter apps. ![]() It’s not just white light, which is what most of the phone apps would use,” he says. “The traditional pulse ox works by shooting two wavelengths of light into the tissue. One thing Rizzo says to avoid (unless your doctor tells you otherwise) are phone apps that claim to work as pulse oximeters. Rizzo says you don’t need to buy an expensive one because, as long as it’s a physical device, the technology should be the same in all of them. Still, as an extra measure of precaution, and especially for people who are at higher risk of respiratory issues, there's no harm in getting an oximeter. Therefore, it’s important to know the confirmed symptoms of the disease, which include fever, coughing, shortness of breath, muscle pain, headaches, and loss of smell or taste, according to the CDC. “We don’t know for sure, but I think as far as an oxygen level drop being the first sign of COVID-19, it doesn’t seem to be the most likely scenario,” he says. He suggests it’s more important to pay attention to how you feel in general if you suspect you may have been exposed to or contracted the novel coronavirus. “The main message I try to get across is that the pulse oximeter is just one factor that needs to be looked at when you’re communicating with your doctor,” Dr. Whether otherwise healthy people need an oximeter depends on a few things. Some people purchase these devices for home use to help manage certain medical conditions, including sleep apnea, high blood pressure, or respiratory ailments that require supplemental oxygen. INSTOCK PULSE OXIMETER PROFESSIONALYou may have had a medical professional use a pulse oximeter on you at a doctor’s office or hospital as part of a routine checkup, for a pre- or post-op procedure, or as a diagnostic test for a respiratory illness. Increased demand for pulse oximeters was likely driven by people who wanted a relatively inexpensive device that gives out a number for assessing their health, rather than trying to gauge symptoms based on how they feel. ![]() Most at-home pulse oximeters range in price between $25 and $200, and can be bought with pre-tax money from your FSA or HSA account. Richard Levitan, who wrote in an op-ed in the New York Times that using pulse oximeters and monitoring blood oxygen saturation can help individuals recognize signs of COVID-19 before they notice any other symptoms. Some COVID patients either do not notice or do not have other illness symptoms as their oxygen levels drop, according to Dr. Why were people buying pulse oximeters earlier this year?ĬOVID-19 is a respiratory illness that can cause lung complications including pneumonia and acute respiratory distress, both of which deplete oxygen levels in the body, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine. Depleted oxygen can lead to lightheadedness, fainting, coughing, wheezing, and even death. Albert Rizzo, Chief Medical Officer of the American Lung Association.Īccording to the Mayo Clinic, oxygen saturation that dips below 90 percent is considered hypoxic, which means there is a lower level of oxygen than is needed in the blood. If it’s low, in the 90 range, that’s not considered very good,” says Dr. “If it’s highly saturated, which is good, it’s usually 95 to 97 percent in most healthy individuals. INSTOCK PULSE OXIMETER SKINThe device does this by emitting small beams of red light through the skin and, based on how the blood absorbs the light, can estimate the percentage of oxygen in the blood. The type of pulse oximeter most people want is a device that is clipped over a finger, toe, or ear lobe to measure the saturation of oxygen in the blood. ![]()
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