STD Kits Pros and Cons

STD kits are affordable and are often the cheapest testing option out there. Since the kit can be used at home, you can use it anytime and in private, without any worries that your results will be seen by anyone else other than yourself.

With an at-home STD kit offered by companies such as My Labbox, you eliminate the need to go to the doctor’s clinic and the uncomfortable minutes spent wearing skimpy and drafty hospital gowns. Aside from eliminating unnecessary medical visits, an at-home kit allows you to take samples yourself and get the results, which are guaranteed confidential, in the mail in a matter of days.

Because it is easy to use, it encourages people, even those who were previously hesitant, to get tested. In fact, people otherwise averse to getting tested who use at-home kits can catch diseases like HIV or chlamydia early on and change the course of the disease.

However, a commercial kit may not be as accurate as laboratory tests. It is more likely to get a false positive. Most kits also only test for a specific condition, which means you may need to buy more than one kit if you want to test for various types of diseases.

Doctors recommend that if you are showing signs of an STI (sexually transmitted infection), opting for an at-home testing kit may not do any good since you still need to visit an actual doctor if you are already showing symptoms. The tests done in a doctor’s office are more accurate and are better suited for testing anyone who is presenting symptoms of any STD.