OVULATION TESTS

For anyone who has used a microscope in a science lab, a microscope ovulation test does not sound like the sort of thing that could be a satisfactory, at-home test. Once one realizes, however, that the test depends on the use of a mini microscope, the microscope ovulation test appears more like something that could possibly be done at home. Finally the facts about the sample source—oral fluids, i.e. saliva—confirm the ovulation test’s true at-home nature, and reveal why many moms love that test.

Every year more and more future moms discover the ease of pinpointing their ovulation time by using a mini ovulation microscope (MOM). That device comes in a set of equipment, equipment designed for women who are planning to take the microscope ovulation test.

The microscope ovulation test does not require a blood or urine sample. The microscope ovulation test requires a mere drop or two of a woman’s saliva. The microscope ovulation test can detect significant changes in a woman’s saliva. They are biochemical changes that signal the release of estrogen by the ovaries.

Since the ovaries produce estrogen following the release of a mature ovum, anything that shows an increase in the body’s estrogen level can be interpreted as a sign that ovulation has occurred. That premise fueled the search for an ovulation test that a woman could easily do at home. That premise caused some observant researchers to follow-up on a finding made in 1945.

During that year, a man name Papanicolau discovered crystallized salt in cervical fluid. Those salt crystals formed a fern-like pattern, a pattern that was clearly visible in the microscope. The appearance of those crystals seemed directly related to the ovulation time of the woman who had contributed the saliva sample.

In 1969 Dr. Biel Cassals found the same evidence of crystallized salt in saliva from a group of women. Cassal’s discovery led to the development of an ovulation test that could be done in the home. The FDA approved that test in 2001, and by 2002 it was on drugstore shelves.

Whenever a woman wants to use a mini microscope to check for crystals in her saliva, she must follow a very simple procedure. First she must put 1 or 2 drops of saliva on the lens of a mini microscope. Once the saliva has dried, the curious woman can put the lens back in the mini microscope and then turn on the light. The microscope will magnify the image 52 times.

The woman peering into the mini microscope can expect to see one of three things. She can expect to see dots, a few fern crystals or a fern-like pattern over the entire microscope field. Each of those images indicates the presence or absence of ovulation. A field of dots means no ovulation; a field with a few fern crystals means some ovulation, and a small chance that the woman could get pregnant. A fern-like pattern over the entire field means that ovulation is occurring, and the ovulating woman stands a good chance of becoming pregnant.

All of that information exists on a tiny lens in a mini microscope. All of that information comes to light during the taking of a microscope ovulation test.