New Over-the-counter Fertility Test For Guys
A new over-the-counter fertility test has been approved for men. The test, called SpermCheck, let’s guys test the strength and numbers of their seminal swimmers from the comfort of their own home.
The test will be available online in July, and in pharmacies later this year.
For couples trying to conceive, this is a great tool. Male infertility is an issue for 40 percent of couples grappling with infertility. Often, it’s men who drag their feet about going to a doctor or dealing with infertility treatment. Bringing the treatment to them moves a big set of obstacles out of the way.
SpermCheck uses “new technology” to test the concentration of sperm in a given sample.
This isn’t the first over the counter fertility test for men, but it stands a chance of taking off where previous products have not. It’s more accurate, for one thing. Possibly more important, it’s also cheaper. For under $30, you can check out one of the major obstacles to fertility without leaving home.
Who will buy these things? Wives. Most infertility treatments are sought by women, and infertility is still largely seen as a women’s issue. The SpermCheck’s creator hopes that at-home fertility testing, along with other advances in male reproductive treatments, will help equal the gender playing field.
It’s been a good month for advances in reproductive technology for men. There’s also a newly released at-home DNA paternity test, the first of it’s kind. The company that launched that gem was crass enough to give them away for Father’s Day. On the other end of the spectrum, researchers are starting human trials on using ultrasound as birth control for men.
The real Holy Grail of male reproductive therapy continues to elude us: there’s still no male pill.
No no no no NO.
Studies over and over again have shown that at-home semen analysis is at best a weak and unreliable indicator of only 2 of the big 3 male-factor problems – motility (speed) and total count. It is impossible to check morphology (normal shape) of semen using an over the counter test, and it always will be. Technician are highly trained to check not only the big 3, but at least a dozen other factors that all can contribute to normal or abnormal semen.
At worst, a man that takes this at-home test and gets no indications of a problem will refuse to see a doctor for a real test since he is “fine” – and his pigheadedness can give the false belief that the guy is just fine… when it very well could be him that is the primary problem.
Male-factor infertility is the primary and only cause in at least a third of all infertility diagnoses.
These tests will do more harm than good.
OK, but what if all I want to do is confirm that the 2-year old vasectomy is still in place. Is the test accurate in comfirming INfertility?
Thanks.