Can You Reuse A Digital or Home Pregnancy Test?

Can you reuse a pregnancy test is a question many women, surprisingly, ask. Perhaps the test you used this morning didn't give you the answer you wanted. Perhaps you're asking this question because you think you used a pregnancy test incorrectly and did not receive the correct result because of your mistakes. There are an infinite number of reasons a woman might ask if you can reuse a test, but the answer is always the same.

Will A Used Pregnancy Test Work?

In short, the answer is no. A used test will not work at any time, even if the result on the test is negative. Pregnancy tests are very specific and very scientific, even if they seem like nothing more than a stick that ends up covered in your urine responsible for your tears of either heartbreak or happiness.

Pregnancy tests are used to detect the pregnancy hormone that is present in your urine when you become pregnant. How does it do this? It does this with the absorbent tip on the end of your test. You might not think this small part of your test is all that important, but it is. This small part is actually more than a piece of test on which you urinate. It's medically designed so that it can detect a very specific chemical in your urine. If that chemical is present, then you are pregnant. There are test strips and chemicals inside every test designed to look for this pregnancy hormone. For this reason, you cannot use a test a second time. Once it's been used, the chemicals have been compromised and the chances of your test working a second time are not good.

Can You Reuse A Home Pregnancy Test?
No, you cannot reuse a home pregnancy test. Once it has been used one time it is no longer capable of detecting pregnancy hormones in your urine. Those little lines you look for in hopes of seeing a second one appear are equipped with dye that changes color when it is met with the pregnancy hormone. If you are not pregnant and you use that test, you might think that you can reuse it because the dye was not used.

However, even though the dye was not used does not make this a test worth using again. This is an invalid test you should immediately discard. One of the main reasons for this is something called an evaporation line. Once you use a test, the lines are only valid for a short period of time. After this time, the urine inside the test and on top of the lines begins to evaporate. This leads to evaporation lines. These are lines that show the shadow of the actual test strip because it's been contaminated with urine. By reusing a home test, you might actually cause evaporation lines to appear darker, which can be easily mistaken for a positive pregnancy test result.

Can You Reuse A Digital Pregnancy Test?

Much like any other test, you cannot reuse a digital test. There are so many reasons why you cannot. For one, it is highly unsanitary to play with a used pregnancy test that is covered in urine. It's filthy. Secondly, the test is now invalid. And invalid test, no matter for which reason it is considered invalid, is not going to provide you with an accurate pregnancy result.

Invalid digital tests are not going to provide you with an answer. Once the dye in the test is met with urine and the digital test says that you are not pregnant, the "not" in front of pregnant is not going to disappear. Using the test a second time, even if you do have enough of the pregnancy hormone in your urine to detect on the test, is not going to magically make the not in front of pregnant disappear. It's simply an invalid test.

What you can do with a used digital pregnancy test, however, is get rid of it immediately after you use it and see the results. You no longer need it. There is no reason to hold onto a test like this in hopes that you will get a different result later. Even if you are pregnant enough to detect at a later date, it's not going to show up on this particular test. Throw it away and buy a new pregnancy test.

All Pregnancy Tests Can Only Be Used Once

There's a lot you might not know about home tests. They seem like sticks that you urinate on. That can't be overly important, can it? How can something you use the restroom on be important? Well, it is. There are chemicals and scientifically designed traits in each pregnancy test that are used to detect pregnancy using the hCG levels in a woman's urine. When those levels are high enough to detect, a test will issue a positive result. When they are not high enough to detect or they simply are not there, no test will detect them.

Despite seeming like simple objects, pregnancy tests are complicated. They will not work a second time. Once they have been exposed to your urine, they no longer possess the chemical needed to react to the hCG in your urine. If your test can't detect it, it won't appear.

If you want to take another pregnancy test, consider simply buying a new one. If you want to reuse a test because you've already taken so many and spent so much money on them, head to your nearest pregnancy resource center or health department. They will issue a test free of charge. It's a brand new test that's never been used. You can count on those results. Just remember, pregnancy tests are only 99 percent accurate when you use them on or after the first day of your missed period. Otherwise, they are less accurate based on the fact that hCG levels in all women's bodies are uniquely different. Can you reuse a pregnancy test? No, you cannot reuse a pregnancy test.