A pulse oximeter is a painless and reliable way for clinicians to measure a person's blood oxygen levels. When you breathe, oxygen enters your lungs, passes through thin membranes and enters your blood stream ? where it's then picked up by red blood cells and carried around the body to various organs. A pulse oximeter is a tiny device that usually slides over your fingertip or clips on your ear lobe and uses infrared light refraction to measure how well oxygen is binding to your red blood cells. Oximeters report blood oxygen levels via an oxygen saturation measurement called peripheral capillary oxygen saturation, or SpO2
If a person has a mild case of COVID-19 and is self-treating at home, an oximeter can be a helpful tool for checking oxygen levels so that low oxygen levels can be caught early. In general, the people who are theoretically more at risk for oxygen issues are those with pre-existing lung disease, heart disease and/or obesity, as well as active smokers. |
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