Best Online STD Kits

What Are At-Home STD Test Kits?

At-home STD test kits offer you a private way to find out about your sexual health status. If you don’t want to discuss your concerns about your sexual health with anyone (not even a doctor), then this is the route to take. Even the packaging of the kit protects your identity.

You don’t have to speak to anyone. All you have to do is collect your DNA sample within the comfort of your own home and send it back to the lab. That’s it! You won’t have to mention anything about your sexual history to a doctor, commute to a doctor’s office or clinic, or even worry about how you can afford the test (as most of them are very affordable).

The method for collecting your DNA sample varies depending on what’s being tested for, but the process is always straightforward. You can safely and discreetly get reliably accurate test results without EVER having to worry about your anonymity.

How Does an STD Kit Work?

Every STD test kit provider is at least a little different in one way or another, but the process of confidentially getting accurate test results is basically the same for each one.

Ordering Your Kit

The kit will arrive at your home in discreet packaging, without any indication of what’s in the box.

Depending on the test kit provider, you can either order over the phone or online. While certain providers may or may not accept insurance or use PayPal, you’ll always have the option of paying with your credit card.

All you have to do is browse through the company’s list of available STD tests, select the one that’s right for you, and wait for it to arrive at your home. Read the details for services to see how long it’ll take you to receive a kit

Collecting a Sample

The collection method for your sample depends on the type of at-home STD test you want. These include:

Blood (finger prick)
Urine
Genital Swab
Rectal Swab
Oral Swab

Receiving Your Results

Due to HIPAA compliance in the US, there are restrictions on how you receive your test results. You won’t be able to get your test results over the phone or through email.

Rather, you’ll get an email notification when your results are ready. There will be a link in that email that’ll take you to your personal account with the kit provider. After clicking on the link, all you have to do is log in to your account on the provider’s website to securely view your results.

At-home STD kits provide easy-to-read results. It’ll be a simple matter of “positive” or “negative.”

Follow-up With a Professional

If you have any questions after receiving your STD test results (especially if you test positive for anything), you should always speak with a trusted, healthcare professional.

Ideally, this would be your primary care physician, as they know the ins-and-outs of your medical profile, and can advise you on the next step.

However, depending on the STD test kit you opt for, you’ll have the option to speak with a licensed healthcare professional through the provider.

For example, if you order an STD bundle or single test from Health Testing Centers (Labcorp and Quest Diagnostics orders only), you can speak with one of its associated doctors for free if you test positive for any of the following:

Chlamydia
Gonorrhea
Trichomoniasis
HSV type 2

Similar services are offered by:

Personalabs
Everlywell
myLAB Box
STDcheck
LetsGetChecked (although you’ll be speaking with a nurse and not a doctor)

Which STDs Can At-Home Kits Test For?

There are more than 25 different STDs. Direct-to-customer test kits will give you results for about 6-12 of these diseases and/or infections, including:

HIV
HSV 2
HCV
Syphilis
Chlamydia
Gonorrhea
Trichomoniasis
Mycoplasma
Ureaplasma
High-Risk HPV infections

How Accurate are STD Tests Taken At Home?

The accuracy of an STD test depends on several important variables, including but not limited to:

The disease being tested for
Whether or not the DNA sample has been corrupted in some way
The time the test is performed
Whether or not you’ve correctly followed the instructions in the kit

That said, however, modern STD testing techniques are vastly more accurate than they were just a few years ago. So, you can reasonably expect that your test results will be more than 90% accurate.

However, there’s always the possibility of false negatives and/or false positives when you get your report. A false positive happens when your report says that you have a disease when you actually don’t, and a false negative is when your results show that you don’t have a disease when you really do.

If you have any doubts or questions, you should speak with a health care provider.

Why Choose an At-Home STD Test?

Aside from providing quick, reliably accurate results about your sexual health, at-home STD tests protect your privacy, which you could never put a price on.

Perhaps you just don’t feel at ease with talking to a doctor about your sex life, which is completely understandable. Having a conversation with anyone about something as sensitive and personal as your sexual health can be very uncomfortable. But you won’t have this problem with an at-home STD test kit.

Everything you need to do is done in the privacy of your own home, and there’s no need to discuss the details of your sexual health with any other person.

Everything from ordering to shipping is entirely discreet. Your kit will arrive at your home without any indication of what’s inside, so your anonymity will always be safe. And once your results are ready, you can view your report on your personal, secured online account. Not even the lab will know your name — only the results from the test performed.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do STDs go undiagnosed and untreated?

The CDC (Center for Disease Control) has recently said that the number of STD cases in the US is on the rise. In fact, the US has the greatest amount of sexually transmitted diseases in the western world. And yet, so many of those cases go undiagnosed and untreated.

There are at least a couple of reasons for this:

There’s a real and understandable amount of personal embarrassment when talking to a healthcare professional about one’s sexuality, sexual habits, and sexual health. One may simply feel too uncomfortable to share these things with anyone, regardless of how important they are.
Many people don’t ever see the need to get tested, because they don’t even know that they’re sick. The fact is that a lot of STDs have symptoms that are too subtle to notice, or are just plain asymptomatic. This creates a false sense of security even though screening is ALWAYS a good idea.

Which STDs are asymptomatic?

Chlamydia
Gonorrhea
HIV
Genital Herpes
HPV
Hepatitis B

Can STDs be cured?

Thankfully, most STDs are curable, or at least treatable. Here’s a shortlist of the most common ones that have a cure:

Gonorrhea (although it’s becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics)
Syphilis
Trichomoniasis
Chlamydia

And here are the most common STDs that don’t have a cure, but can still be treated with the proper therapy:

HPV
Genital Herpes
HIV/AIDS
Hepatitis B

Are STDs Deadly?

Although most are treatable and even curable, some STDS can indeed be fatal if left undiagnosed or untreated. This is why health screening is so important - even if you don’t see any symptoms at all.

A classic example of this is HIV/AIDS. Although HIV is asymptomatic, it will inevitably and gradually turn into fatal AIDS, unless one tests for their status and, if positive, immediately starts the necessary medical treatment.

Other STDs, like gonorrhea, can make it difficult or practically impossible for a woman to become pregnant, or result in miscarriage.

How are STDs treated?

Although STDs are no laughing matter, not everything is doom and gloom. Science has come a long way, and, generally speaking, STDs caused by bacteria can be easily treated and even cured with the right antibiotics (usually in one dose). This depends, however, on the treatment starting early and the doctor’s instructions being followed to the letter.

Viral STDs are unfortunately a different story, though. There’s absolutely no cure for things like Herpes and HIV/AIDs. However, the symptoms can be effectively managed with the appropriate antiviral medications.

What is the difference between STD and STI?

STD stands for sexually transmitted diseases, while STI is short for sexually transmitted infections. Honestly, in a way, they’re basically the same exact thing, as they’re both referring to health conditions that are passed on through sexual activity.

However, there’s a subtle difference between the meanings of “disease” and an “infection.”

You can think of an STI as the first step in a degenerative process. An STI happens when a bacteria or virus enters the body through sexual activity. Afterward, it starts to spread and gradually devolves into something increasingly worse. This process, at least in the beginning, can be asymptomatic.

On the other hand, an STD is typically the end result of an STI. After the foreign, sexually transmitted virus or bacteria invades your body, that infection may gradually turn into a full-blown disease. In most cases, you’ll be able to see the symptoms of this process.