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A laboratory can give you a lot of information about your body, your ancestry or even help you lose weight by analysing your DNA. For men, the best-known test is the paternity test. However, there are other types of tests, such as food and pet allergy tests, skin tests, or tests that reveal your ancestry. Men who decide to have a vasectomy can also buy a spermcheck vasectomy. This test can be done at home and shows the concentration of sperm in the semen. In a few minutes, you can detect whether the vasectomy has been successful or whether you should visit your doctor’s office. These tests, as long as they are not needed in a legal process, can be purchased from the comfort of your own home, and the man himself collects the samples at home.
Meet the new sample collection kits
Imagine you go to a laboratory’s website, buy a kit to test your DNA, and receive it at home. What happens next? Before the laboratory can analyse your DNA, it needs a sample. The problem is that some people can’t make the trip to the lab either because it is far from where they live or because they don’t have the time to do so. To address this situation, laboratories have created kits with everything you need to take the samples yourself. It consists of swabs that you rub 8 to 10 times against the inner part of your cheeks and place them inside the protective containers that come with the kit. You send the samples to the laboratory as indicated in the instructions and wait for the results to arrive.
Read the kit instructions
Anxiety can lead you to make mistakes when collecting the samples. You must read the instructions and make sure you understand them before taking the samples. Be aware that laboratories cannot analyse your DNA if the sample is contaminated in any way. For example, you cannot take a saliva sample if you have recently drunk alcohol or smoked, as this could alter the quality of the sample, making it more difficult for the laboratory to get your DNA. If you send a contaminated or improperly collected sample, laboratory will inform you that you need a new kit. As a general rule, laboratories recommend opening the seal on the swabs’ container only if you know what to do and how to do it. Finally, don’t forget to fill in the form included with the kit and identify the samples in case of a test involving more than one person.