# What is the obstacle to a fully reusable glucose meter?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-obstacle-to-a-fully-reusable-glucose-meter/699847>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 29, 2014, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-obstacle-to-a-fully-reusable-glucose-meter/699847 "2014-09-29T12:02:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\
**Post date:** [October 1, 2014, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-obstacle-to-a-fully-reusable-glucose-meter/699847/21 "2014-10-01T02:20:31Z")

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> [@WhyNot](#):
>
> Hmm. I believe you, but I wonder how they overcame this issue for pulse oximeters?

They work by the difference in absorption of two bands of light by oxygenated and non-oxygenated hemoglobin, so they are inherently blind to skin coloration.

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