Works for me Wednesday: the home ear scope

This thing has a really long name that starts with "oto". Me and my spell check don't want to attempt it.

I am a bit of a germophobe, maybe alot, as you can see here in the lovely handwashing unit study we did. If you saw my medicine cabinet, you might try an intervention. Its all sorted like a drug store shelf.

This is one of my very best parenting tools. You know when your kids come in whining about the sorethroat/earache/sinus pain/insert your own malady here, and you just aren't sure HOW bad it is? Is it go to the doctor bad? lay on the couch bad? or just I wanna bum a yummy throat lozenge bad? This will give the answers! It is the home version of what the doctor uses to check out the nose, throat and ears at the clinic. They also include a mirror for dental problems.

It has a light that is directed right into the area you are looking at, plus the lens offers magnification so that you can see everything a little bigger. Inside there are pictures of what to look for. They show a healthy ear, and then an infected ear. This is the walgreens brand and the one I prefer. I have tried the one that CVS offers, but in an effort to go green they changed out the normal bulb into an LED bulb. Unfortunately, the LED bulb emits a blue light, which colors the tissues you are trying to view. It makes impossible to see if they are red and inflamed.

Now, I by no means am an expert, if I am on the fence, we go and get it checked out. But this has saved us a whole lot of unneccessary co-pays and worried nights.