What is Canestest Self-Test for Vaginal Infections?

Canestest is a convenient self-test that helps you to find out whether you’re likely to suffer from thrush or BV and also helps you to find the right treatment for you. This innovation allows you to regain control of your intimate health – it’s over 90% accurate, and it only takes seconds to receive your swab results. The test itself is a simple, easy to use swab to indicate if your vaginal pH level is abnormal. The test results should be interpreted in conjunction with your symptoms, based on the symptoms table on the back of the pack, helping you to understand which common vaginal infection you may be suffering from, such as thrush or bacterial vaginosis.

If you’re unsure if you have bacterial vaginosis or thrush, we’ll help you to take control. We’ve developed an innovative and reliable self-test to help you quickly determine which common vaginal infection (bacterial vaginosis or thrush) you could be suffering from and enable you to treat it quickly and effectively.

Canestest links vaginal pH and symptoms to a probable condition: first, the easy-to-use swab helps you to find out whether or not your vaginal pH level is abnormally increased. Then, this result should be interpreted in conjunction with the symptoms table on the pack, helping you to find the right treatment.

Canestest: Confidence to choose the right treatment for you

Dealing with vaginal infections can make you feel less confident and less in control of your body, not to mention very uncomfortable. Canestest allows you independently diagnose yourself in the comfort of your home, quickly giving you results that are over 90% accurate. It’s an innovative solution that will put you back in control of your intimate health and give you the ability to choose the treatment you need to effectively deal with your infection.

Thrush vs Bacterial Vaginosis

While both thrush and bacterial vaginosis (BV) are very common, they’re two different types of infections, and you need to treat them differently. However, they are not always known and not always easy to identify. Thrush is caused by an overgrowth of the yeast (Candida albicans) which often leads to symptoms such as itchiness, soreness or white discharge. BV is caused by an overgrowth of bacteria regularly found in your vagina.  BV symptoms usually include a fishy odour and a greyish-white, watery discharge. With Canestest, you can test before you treat, so you know you’re using the right treatment for your infection.

How does Canestest work?

Your vagina normally has an acidic pH level – this keeps the good and bad bacteria that live in your healthy vagina in check. Any changes to your vaginal pH balance can cause and can also be an indication of vaginal infections such as BV. Canestest tells you if you have a relevant pH shift in your vagina and helps you to understand and diagnose the type of vaginal condition you’re likely to suffer from. A higher vaginal pH indicates that you may be suffering from BV while a healthy vaginal pH means your symptoms are probably caused by thrush. Canestest has been proven to help detect changes in vaginal pH with more than 90% accuracy.

How to use Canestest Self-Test for Vaginal Infections

It’s easy and straightforward to use Canestest at home. It’s similar to inserting a tampon, and it shouldn’t cause you any discomfort. To get the most accurate results, you need to make sure you don’t use Canestest less than one day before or after your period or if you have any signs of your period or vaginal bleeding. You also need to allow 12 hours after having sexual intercourse or vaginal douching.

Step 1 - Unwrap the Canestest swab (make sure the swab tip does not come into contact with anything before you insert it into your vagina)

Step 2 - Hold the Canestest swab by the handle and insert the yellow tip into your vagina, rotate the swab and then remove

Step 3 - After 10 seconds check the tip of the Canestest swab to see if the colour has stayed the same or changed to blue or green

How to interpret the Test results?

If your Canestest swab didn’t change colour after 10 seconds, it means that you may be suffering from thrush. If you have symptoms such as an itchy or sore vagina, or thick, white discharge, this is likely the case. If the tip of the swab did not change colour after 10 seconds and you do not have the symptoms of vaginal thrush indicated in the symptoms table, then it is likely that you do not suffer from these common vaginal infections.

If your Canestest swab changed colour and the tip becomes blue or green, it means that you may have a BV infection. BV infections are usually accompanied by symptoms such as a thin, grey discharge and an unpleasant fishy smell. However, in the case of yellow-green, frothy discharge associated with bad odour and painful urination, you may be suffering from trichomoniasis. In this case, you should consult your doctor.