Testing for STIs at home?
It's possible, and an increasingly popular option

The answer to this question is different for everyone because it can depend on factors like your age and your behavior. For example, younger people, especially women, are biologically more susceptible to STIs. Additionally, certain groups (like men who have sex men) may have higher STI rates in their communities. If a person has multiple sexual partners, they may also need to test more often.

In general, everyone should be tested for HIV at least once in their lives and anyone who is sexually active should be tested for most STIs about once a year. Some people may want to be tested more frequently if they have multiple partners and some people may need fewer tests because they have only one partner and are sure their partner doesn’t have any other partners. Check for an explanation of CDC’s specific recommendation for each STI.

Home testing is best used as a method for regular screenings. If you have symptoms such as genital itching, burning, or unusual discharge it can be better to see a healthcare provider because a physical exam can help you get a quick and accurate diagnosis and start treatment right away.

You can test for most STIs at home including HIV, chlamydia, gonorrhea, trichomoniasis, and hepatitis C. You can also test for syphilis, but these tests are considered less accurate because they may pick up an old infection that isn’t active anymore (meaning it doesn’t need treatment and won’t be spread to a partner). Herpes tests may be available as well, but blood tests for HSV are considered less accurate and are known to return a significant number of false positive results.

There are many ways to get an STI test that you can do at home. You can get them over the counter in some pharmacies, like CVS. Or you can go online where a slew of companies such as Nurx, TBD Health, Lemonaid, Let’s Get Checked, and myLAB box sell home test kits. Many of these companies will mail out a test kit for you to use at home and mail back. Others connect you to an online provider, either through telehealth or an online survey, who will write an order for you to go to a local lab where you will provide samples (not quite at home but still avoids the need for an in-person doctor’s appointment).

Some health departments are also offering at-home test kits that you can pick up or have mailed to you.

Free at-home testing kits are also available in some areas—check below for more information.

While health departments often offer their test kits for free, other providers have a wide range of pricing. The CVS test kit sells for $99. Most of the online companies seem price their test kits at about $99 as well but they also offer more comprehensive kits (that test for additional STIs) that are more expensive. Some can be over $200. Some companies offer a membership program so that people who want to be tested frequently can receive a discount.

While there may be exceptions for tests ordered by a telehealth provider and done at a local lab, for the most part home STI tests are not covered by insurance. For a test purchased at a pharmacy, like CVS, it may be possible to use funds from an HSA plan, if you have one.

Check below to see what free options may be available near you.

Each test kit will be a little different, but most will ask you to either prick your finger and put a drop of blood on a test card or provide a urine sample (or both). The dried blood test is used for HIV, Hepatitis-C, and syphilis. The urine sample is used to test for gonorrhea, chlamydia, and trichomoniasis. Depending on what you are testing for, some kits may also ask for a vaginal swab, an anal swab, and/or a throat swab.

There is also a rapid HIV test that uses a sample of saliva collected by swabbing your gums.

For most STIs, home tests should be as accurate as the tests done in a doctor’s office because they are being conducted in a laboratory. That said, the only tests that have been approved for home use by the FDA are those that test for HIV. The lab tests for other STIs were approved by the FDA using samples collected by health professionals and the agency is still questioning whether the tests remain as effective when the samples are collected at home.

Experts seem to agree that home tests for chlamydia, gonorrhea, trichomoniasis, and hepatitis-C are reliable. When it comes to syphilis and herpes, however, there are fears that the tests will pick up old infections or return too many false positives. Even so, these tests can be valuable by providing reliable negative results. Anyone who gets a positive result on one of these tests will likely be advised to seek additional testing to confirm.