Best At-Home STD Tests of 2024

Written by Dr. Zaheer Abbas | Medically reviewed by Editorial Team
Last updated on: March 06, 2024

STDs are very common. According to WHO, more than one million STDs are acquired every day worldwide. 

Regular testing for STDs is important for overall health and any necessary treatments. 

Home STD testing can provide an accurate and convenient method for knowing the status of STDs. The most popular kits used for this purpose are Everlywell, myLAB box, nurx, letsgetchecked, iDNA, STDcheck and PrioritySTD. 

The Growing Trend of At-Home STD Testing

A major barrier to STD testing is concern about their confidentiality and informing patients of positive test results. These at home STD testing has solved this issue to large extent. Many of these STD kits providers have the services like to inform the patients their results and then suitable treatment plan. Like many other things like work from home during and after covid 19 pandemic; STD testing trends changed as well.

What do the At-Home STD tests measure?

These at Home STD tests detects chlamydia, gonnorhea,herpes, HIV, HPV, syphilis, trichomona mainly however some kits can measure Hepatitis, mycoplasma & gardinella.

The Best At-Home STD Tests Compared

Different kits measure different types of STDs. They are different in terms of pricing, result precision, collection method and results availability.

Everlywell is the popular one that detects 6 common STDs and hepatitis C and it’s available in two separate kits for males and females. 

Mylab kit detects HIV 1 and 2, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, herpes, syphilis, chlamydia trachomatis, gonorrhea, trichomoniasis, HPV, Mycoplasma genitalium, bacterial vaginosis & yeast infections. Results available after 2-5days. 

Nurx measures chlamydia, gonorrhea, trichomoniasis, HIV, syphilis and hepatitis C.

Purpose of at-home STD tests

Home STD testing makes testing more accessible and appealing to individuals who may avoid going to a clinic due to stigma or shame. The purpose of at-home STD testing is to determine whether a person have an STD. Positive results indicate the need to follow up with a medical professional for treatment and sometimes additional testing. 

Benefits and Downsides of At-Home STD Tests

-Easily accessible 

-Suitable for individuals who don’t want to be recognized or exposed to a STD clinic or hospital 

However drawback to testing at home is error in sample collection, lack of regulation by STD kit providers, missing the actual STDs stat, no sexual counseling and false positive or false negative results. 

Conclusion

The privacy and the stigma which surrounds STDs is just significant. Allowing individuals to collect samples at home for testing provides a more discreet method to check for certain STDs however results must be interpreted by medical professionals and confirmatory testing should be conducted.



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