An At-Home UTI Test Should Never Replace a Visit to Your Doctor - Here's Why
Published
Apr 29 2021 at 10:45 PM GMT
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- When you think you may have a UTI, it's best practice to call up your doctor and get into the office for testing.
- However, there may be a part of you wondering if you can skip that trip and use an at-home UTI test to confirm the issue for yourself instead.
- The short answer" An at-home UTI test should never replace an actual doctor's appointment.
- According to Wai Lee, MD, the Director of Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery at the Northwell Smith Institute for Urology, at-home UTI tests function similarly to urine dip-stick test strips, which are designed to flag specific markers that can suggest you have a UTI, such as nitrite (a chemical produced by some bacteria that cause UTIs) and leukocytes (white blood cells that fight off infection).
- However, as Dr Lee explained, not all bacteria that cause UTIs produce nitrite, which could lead to a false negative, and elevated leukocytes can also be experienced outside of infection.
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- Published Apr 29, 2021 10:45 PM GMT