Diagnosing Ear Infections With An iPhone

A new attachment for your iPhone promises to diagnose childhood ear infections, but a New York pediatrician isn’t sold on its bells and whistles.

The Oto Home attachment uses your smart phone’s camera to video your child’s ear and send it to a contracted physician who can determine if medication is needed.

“The Oto Home device intuitively seems like a good idea, but there is much more that goes into the diagnosis of an ear infection than merely a photograph,” said Minu George, MD, interim chief of the division of general pediatrics at Cohen Children’s Medical Center of New York. “Ideally it is better for the pediatrician who is familiar with your child’s history to decide on a treatment plan for any infection.”

San Francisco-based medical tech firm CellScope created the Oto (short for otoscope, the device that doctors use to look inside ears) Home, which is currently only available in California.

On-call doctors with Oto Home can write prescriptions, which worries Dr. George.

“In an era with increasing resistance to antibiotics, it is quite necessary for antibiotics to be used with caution,” she said. “Should every red, painful ear be treated with antibiotics? Absolutely not.”