In the event you’re the type of one who will get nervous or squeamish on the physician’s workplace, you would possibly discover that amassing your personal samples does not freak you out as a lot as somebody in a white coat doing it.
Relying on the place you reside and your transportation state of affairs, at-home STD exams may be extra accessible than visiting a clinic or making a health care provider’s appointment. And you may pay for them out of pocket, which may be a greater possibility based mostly in your medical insurance.
Lastly, and sadly, sexually transmitted infections have a stigma connected to them. You should not really feel ashamed of checking up in your sexual well being—removed from it, in truth—however at-home exams may be a greater possibility in the event you’re involved about what others might imagine.
The Cons of At-Residence STI Checks
At-home STI exams are costly. Relying in your particular well being care state of affairs, they may be extra reasonably priced, and plenty of of them are FSA- and HSA-eligible or could also be coated by insurance coverage. However in the event you stay in an space the place there’s free testing by way of your metropolis or state well being departments, or a third-party clinic like Deliberate Parenthood, these choices are seemingly going to be less expensive than testing at dwelling.
There’s additionally the danger of you amassing your samples incorrectly, which might result in false negatives. Relying on the take a look at you select, in the event you do get constructive outcomes for a sexually transmitted an infection, you would possibly nonetheless find yourself having to go go to a health care provider in individual to get it handled. Whereas many exams are respected, it is nonetheless necessary to make sure that the lab analyzing your outcomes is well-regulated (and that the take a look at itself comes from a good firm). “It’s necessary to comply with the equipment directions precisely and gather the pattern correctly whereas avoiding contamination. You also needs to comply with the warnings and keep away from components that may intervene with outcomes, together with incorrect equipment storage or use of sure merchandise within the final 48 hours,” says Dr. Gary Schoolnik, Chief Medical Officer at Visby Medical.
Your particular person well being and timing can influence the accuracy of at-home exams, too. For instance, in the event you’re in your interval or have lately used antibiotics, these variables would possibly have an effect on the standard of the samples you may gather. A well being care supplier can take this stuff under consideration and modify your testing protocol accordingly.
If the state of affairs is pressing—for instance, in the event you’re experiencing bodily signs that raised issues, otherwise you’re immunocompromised, otherwise you’re pregnant, or you understand you have been uncovered to an STI—it is necessary to truly go to a well being care supplier fairly than making an attempt to deal with your situation at dwelling. “I nonetheless advocate individuals who’re having signs or know they’ve been with somebody that has an STI to hunt skilled sexual well being care to be utterly certain, as a false end result from a do-it-at-home-kit could make you suppose you’re okay and due to this fact dismiss or overlook signs,” says Roos.
If privateness is a priority, it’d really be extra useful so that you can go to a routine physician’s appointment fairly than having the packaging for an STD take a look at within the trash. And in the event you suppose you would possibly take a look at constructive for one thing, it may be useful so that you can hear that information from a well being care supplier fairly than discovering out whereas opening the mail in your kitchen. It is one thing that is necessary to suppose by way of earlier than you resolve to go together with testing at dwelling.
