Seeing is Believing: Especially with Ear and Eye Exams

By Kylie Gilberg, Marketing Manager

 6/17/22

Without the right type of lighting, it is often hard to see the important small details. This can be especially true in the primary care environment when it comes to something as routine and simple as an ear or eye exam.

Given that eye and ear exams are one of the basic parts of a primary care visit, you most likely have the ophthalmoscopes and otoscopes mounted to the wall for easy access. You also likely understand that better diagnostic instruments can help improve the quality of ambulatory care. Missing something subtle during the exam phase can have a tremendous impact on diagnosis, treatment and ultimately clinical outcome.

Surveys have found that nearly half of physicians encounter diagnostic errors at least monthly. And while misdiagnoses and missed diagnoses can happen for many reasons, the type of light your diagnostic instruments utilize can unfortunately also play a role. Objects often look different under artificial light then they do in natural light. Poor color rendering and color inaccuracies can lead to misinterpretation of tissue color, impacting your ability to properly diagnose your patient.

It is not enough for your device to have LED lighting, it needs to be an LED light with a high color rendering index (CRI) rating. The CRI index is a scale of 0 to 100, and ratings closer to 100 indicate better replication of natural light to show vibrant color. As the CRI rating decreases, the color accuracy of the lighting results in colors appearing dull and of poor quality.

When dealing with the ear canal and ear drum, this can mean the difference between seeing all tissue as pink and being able to see clearly and easily detect variations in anatomical structures or slightly red, inflamed tissue.

HEINE Beta® diagnostic instruments feature exclusive LED^HQ Illumination technology that has a CRI rating of greater than 97. The even distribution of light across the entire field of view results in high-contrast, distortion-free images with no distracting reflexes, shadows or disturbing hot-spots.

But don’t just take our word for it. Seeing is believing. Contact a Midmark representative to request a demo and find out how our ophthalmoscopes and otoscopes can help you see colors clearly and diagnose with confidence.

For more information, visit the Seeing is Believing page on the Midmark website.

HEINE and BETA are registered trademarks of HEINE Optotechnik GmbH + Co. KG.