If your baby is younger than 3 months of age, call his or her doctor early in the illness. In newborns, it’s especially important to make sure that a more serious illness isn’t present, especially if your baby has a fever. In general, you don’t need to see the doctor if your older baby has a common cold. If you …

Finding the reason for the coma — including diagnosing an underlying medical condition — needs to happen quickly. One of the first steps to diagnosing a coma is a neurological exam. A healthcare provider can carry out this exam and then use a tool like the Glasgow Coma Scale to determine the severity of the coma. In addition to the neurological …

Eye care providers diagnose color blindness using several different tests. The Ishihara test is the most common test eye care providers use to diagnose red-green color blindness. For this test, a provider shows you a series of color plates. Each plate contains a pattern of small dots. Among those dots, there’s a number (or shape for young children). You identify …

The best way to find and identify colon polyps is with a colonoscopy. This is an exam that looks inside your colon with a lighted camera. While other types of imaging tests can find colon polyps, a colonoscopy allows a healthcare provider to find and remove polyps during the same procedure. Your healthcare provider can pass tools through the colonoscope to …

Providers usually diagnose a collapsed lung by listening to your lungs and by using imaging. This includes chest X-rays, CT scans (computed tomography scans) or a lung ultrasound. They may also use an arterial blood gas test to measure the levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide in your blood. Your healthcare provider will ask about your history of lung disease and perform a physical exam. …

The symptoms of ischemic bowel disease are common and nonspecific, so healthcare providers may have to rule out many other possible causes before making the diagnosis. They’ll take images of your colon and may test a sample of your blood for infections or other factors. Colitis in general may show up in your blood test as a high white blood cell count. When …

You can usually diagnose colic based on the pattern of symptoms. It’ll help if you keep a record of: When your baby’s crying spells occur. When your baby sleeps. What your baby eats and how often. Your baby’s pattern of bowel movements. Your baby’s healthcare provider may perform a physical exam to rule out a physical condition — such as esophageal reflux, …

A healthcare provider will ask you about your symptoms and perform a physical exam. During the exam, the provider will check for signs, such as: Swelling in your nostrils. A stuffy nose. A red, irritated throat. Swollen lymph nodes in your neck. Clear lungs. What tests will be done to diagnose the common cold? Typically, a physical exam is enough to …

Your health care provider can usually diagnose cold sores just by looking at them. To confirm the diagnosis, your health care provider might take a sample from the blister for testing in a laboratory.