A bathroom scale that scans cardiovascular health. A wearable designed for perimenopause. A toothbrush that could do more than clean teeth. At CES 2026 in Las Vegas, health technology is moving into some of the most familiar parts of daily life.
With at-home health monitoring and wearables becoming increasingly popular, the ambition is clear: make information about our bodies easier to access, and make health and wellness routines easier to fit into everyday life. But there are important differences between a wellness insight, a medical treatment and a company’s promise of what its technology might achieve.
This companion article is based on BBC News’s original CES 2026 report for BBC Tech Now, reported by Shiona McCallum. Full credit for the original reporting, interviews and demonstrations belongs to BBC News.
Key Takeaways
- CES 2026 health technology brings monitoring and wellness tools into familiar daily routines.
- Perimenopause tracking is gaining dedicated wearable technology, with Peri positioned as a wellness device.
- Medical treatment devices and consumer wellness insights serve different purposes and should not be confused.
- Breath-analysis and skincare benefits remain company claims rather than results established by brief demonstrations.
Connected Scales Move Beyond Weight
French company Withings is already known for connected scales and smartwatches. Its Body Scan 2 takes the familiar bathroom scale in a more ambitious direction: cardiovascular scanning.
The process looks straightforward. Stand on the scale, hold its handle and place your thumbs on the sensors. The measurements take about 90 seconds.
Withings says it is bringing measurement capabilities usually available in clinical settings into an easy-to-use consumer device. The company describes six exclusive measurement capabilities, although the demonstration does not explain each one individually.
One result gives an accessible way to interpret the data: an estimated heart age. McCallum’s result was 37, a year younger than her actual age. The Withings representative interpreted that as a positive indication of her heart’s pumping efficiency.
That is the appeal of this kind of at-home health monitoring: turning a collection of measurements into something immediately understandable. The price, however, makes it a considered purchase. Withings quoted $599 in the US and €499 in Europe.
Perimenopause Gets a Dedicated Wearable
Not every health wearable is designed for steps or workouts. Peri focuses on perimenopause, a stage of life that can last for years and remains under-researched.
The device uses four types of sensors:
- Electrodermal activity, or EDA: measurement of electrical activity at the skin.
- An accelerometer: tracking movement.
- A blood-flow sensor.
- A temperature sensor.
Rather than sitting on the wrist, Peri attaches beneath the breast with an adhesive. The company says it can be worn for seven to ten days, including during bathing and swimming, so the aim is to collect information without interrupting normal routines.
Once paired with a phone, the device displays scores and tracks activity, hot flashes, night sweats and the menstrual cycle through its sensor technology. After the first seven days, the company says users receive their first AI-generated insight.
The important distinction is that Peri is a wellness device, not a medical device. Its purpose is to offer information and guidance, rather than a medical diagnosis. For broader context on the life stage itself, the NHS guide to menopause and perimenopause provides a useful reference alongside any device-generated insights.
Ear Treatment Designed Around a Child’s Routine
Where Peri sits in the wellness category, Earflo is presented as a medical device designed to treat chronic ear infections in young children.
Its shape is deliberately familiar: something resembling a sippy cup, connected to a component that controls air pressure. The child places their nose into a mask and drinks a favourite drink. Swallowing is part of the process.
The device applies pressure intended to help open the Eustachian tube. A companion app turns that process into a small game, with a rocket moving towards a star. When the rocket reaches the star, it indicates that the pressure has reached the intended level.
The company says microcontrollers prevent pressure from rising too high, with the aim of keeping the experience comfortable for children.
The design addresses more than the treatment mechanism. A familiar cup, a favourite drink and a simple game are all intended to make the process easier for a young child to engage with.
A Toothbrush With Bigger Health Ambitions
Smart toothbrushes are well established on the CES floor, but Y-Brush offers a different approach to the basic task. Its current version uses a mouthpiece-shaped brush and is designed to clean teeth in 20 seconds.
During the demonstration, McCallum selected a ten-second cleaning mode for the upper teeth, rinsed, then repeated the process for the lower teeth. The mouthpiece is shaped to reach the back teeth as well as those at the front.
The newer version adds a much broader ambition: using AI and gas sensors to analyse breath biomarkers.
The company claims the technology will detect more than 300 health conditions, with examples including diabetes, digestive problems, inflammatory conditions, oral-health issues and liver problems.
That is a substantial claim, and it should be understood as the company’s stated ambition. Trying the brush demonstrates how its cleaning process works; it does not establish the accuracy of its proposed health-detection capabilities.
Still, the direction is striking. A device used during an ordinary bathroom routine is being positioned as a potential source of information about much more than teeth.
Beauty Tech Promises Gradual Results, Not Instant Magic
Health technology at CES also overlaps with beauty. Light-based skincare devices have attracted attention online, and L’Oréal offered a preview of technology it is developing.
The obvious question is practical: what difference might someone actually see on their face?
L’Oréal’s representative described two wavelengths of light:
- 830 nanometres: intended to target collagen beneath the skin.
- 630 nanometres: described as targeting skin cells and supporting regeneration.
According to the company, noticeable results could appear after two to three weeks, with further improvement over subsequent months. The emphasis was on sustained use, rather than an immediate transformation.
The demonstration involved fitting the mask to the face, securing it with a Velcro fastening behind the head and holding a button on the side to activate it.
There was not enough time during the CES visit to assess those longer-term results. The useful point is the expectation being set: this is positioned as an investment in an ongoing skincare routine, not a one-off shortcut.
The Common Thread: Health Tech That Fits Into Daily Life
These devices serve very different purposes, but they share a design goal. A scale, an adhesive patch, a drinking cup, a toothbrush and a face mask all bring technology into routines people already recognise.
The strongest distinction to keep in mind is between measurement, wellness guidance, treatment and claimed detection. A heart-age estimate is not the same kind of output as an AI-generated perimenopause insight, and neither is the same as a device intended to treat an ear problem.
Across CES 2026, the promise is to help people look and feel better for longer. The demonstrations show how that promise is taking shape. Whether each product delivers its intended benefits is a separate question from how convenient or impressive it appears on the exhibition floor.
Original BBC News Report
The original BBC Tech Now report, presented by Shiona McCallum and published by BBC News, includes the interviews and hands-on demonstrations behind this companion article.
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