A US-based startup has developed a home kit called "YO sperm" that allows men test their fertility using their smartphones.
The kit includes a sample collection cup, a plastic pipette, a testing slide, a special liquefying powder, and a mini microscope which can be attached to the smartphone's camera to measure the sperm mobility.
Priced at only $50, the male fertility kit lets one do the job of a fertility doctor at home with minimum to zero experience. Although there are plenty of sperm test kit options available on the market, the YO sperm is FDA-approved for added assurance and works with a smartphone.
Medical Electronics Systems, which developed this medical kit, is targeting men who are hesitant to perform fertility tests in clinics and hospitals.
"This convenience lets men avoid the awkwardness of being locked up in a sterile room to do the obvious, which is then followed by the anxiety that surrounds oneself with the impending results," the company said in a statement.
According to Medical Electronics System, anyone who has a smartphone can test his fertility at his home with 97 percent accuracy.
How to use it?
After assembling all the items including the sperm sample, one needs to mix the special liquefying powder and swirl it for around 10-15 seconds in the collection cup. After letting it rest for ten minutes, the user needs to take a small amount of the sample using a pipette and drop it onto the slide. The sample gets ready for analyzation with a recording of a 30-second video. The results come out in two minutes.
Marcia Deutsch, CEO of Medical Electronic Systems, said that if a man is producing 100 million sperm which are all dead or not swimming, it's useless to know that one's sperm concentration is normal. The key, she added, is to assess moving sperm, as these are the sperm that will fertilize an egg during normal conception.
The Yo sperm kit is not available for pre-orders. It will be available for sale starting January 31.