Taking tests apart.... The debate!

[Amipreggo87]

Ok so this one.....reallg grinds my gears. I don't know how many posts on how many different sites where women suddenly act like they're professional pregnancy test experts telling other women taking a test apart will cause false positives or ruin a test. Is anyone a doctor? Does anyone have any proof or something anywhere to suggest that this is the slightest bit true? And not just some people on sites saying it.... Because I specifically asked my gynecologist and she said opening a test makes no difference to the outcome. All It could do is make the test dry quick and make an Evap show quicker but this would still only happen after the time limit. If you open a test because you see a line it will not alter anything. Everyone is aware you can but cheap test strips.... The little tiny tests that aren't covered by any plastic or anything.....if all these so called experts on pregnancy tests believe this nonsense then cheap test strips shouldn't even exist because they will all clearly cause false positives?? I think everyone really needs to stop telling people some absolute garbage that they heard from someone else... Who heard it from someone else.... Who read it on a forum somewhere. Its not true. Opening a test will not cause a pink.... Big... Fat... Positive.... Its impossible for anything other than hcg to make a test pink. The air.... Will.... Not.... Do.... It. Everytime I read a thread about someone asking for an opinion and they've opened their test they get bombarded with "that's clearly invalid because you've opened the test"......including my own. If you test and see a pink line within the time limit.... Its positive. It might end up a chemical.... It might be a rare false positive... But its not caused by anyone opening a test!! If you see nothing and open your test and state at it for an hour.... Yes you might see an Evap... But an Evap is not a positive and you would of seen an Evap if you look at the test after the time limit anyway! I'm sorry but this sort of thing is testing my patience and all your doing is giving false Information and passing it on to other women who then pass it on again.... Which is how this whole thing started anyway! Anyone else think it's time to stop this? You are not experts, you have no proof or information to be handing out lies to women who will believe it and then go tell someone else!

I don't understand why people take tests apart. Just follow the instructions if a line shows up in the time then it's positive if not its negative. It would never occur to me to open the test up, I find it bizarre 🤷‍♀️

I took mine apart the other day a FRER purely because the indent was a joke, see the photo, I think it makes 0 difference if you take it apart or not x

No one here claims to be experts, we just muddle through and try to help where we can. There is no manual to TTC, and we pick up information from a variety of sources as we go along. Don't take what people say on here as gospel, you are free to question and do your own research, or ask a medical professional. As PP said, I don't personally understand the need to take a test apart. If you're questioning the result, do another one or wait a few days until the HCG levels could be higher.

I agree op

I think alot of people... Myself included just take the test apart to get a good picture.... So there's no glare, or to see it clearer. What winds me up is when someone is simply asking for opinions on a test and they're basically told no, you opened it. It's invalid. With no knowledge, no information, no qualifications to be telling people a test is wrong just because they opened it. It's honestly like... Get off your high horse... Your not a doctor. You heard this from a rumour that started and because everyone's been believing it and passing it on its become like the automatic assumption. If you can show some concrete evidence to support this crap then fair enough... But there's not. If someone's asking for opinions on a hpt don't just randomly throw out false information about how opening it has ruined the test and you can't trust it, unless you can back it up with a legit reason.

And thank god we have some people with sense who agree @cookielove
@a

The only test I took apart was Clearblue digital, as I wanted to see how it looks inside. I guess it doesn't really make any harm if you take it apart. If you're pregnant you'll see a line progression in time. I don't think it's invalid if you take it apart. This test have the same stuff inside as the strip ones, but they cost a bit more because of the plastic case and maybe sensitivity sometimes.

I always looked at the tests I did hundreds of times during day. I never had an evap or indent. If there was something even faint, it was a good sign. I will put them in all sort of lights and my DH did the same. We just wanted to see something, did we?

@R2D2abc that's exactly it. Price... The strips are small and cheap. The ones with plastic are more expensive than them.... The plastic is there purely to make them look more expensive, and to make it easier to pee on. Not to stop false results eye roll eye roll at people who believe otherwise

I'm not going to post after this as I can't be done with the aggro. OP, you've titled the post 'debate' yet are being very sarcastic and condescending towards anyone that has a personal view that goes against yours. People have views, people can get things wrong and people can challenge what you say. If you want a debate, maybe do it in a bit more of a pleasant, less angry manner. Good luck with your TTC journey

I think it's probably come from
The idea that taking a test apart is surely more likely to let you see the indent line/grey evap line where the wee has dried in the evap line so it kinda isn't a good idea as it might give you false hope. But no I don't think taking a test apart makes a pink line become in valid I just think it could cause some problems of giving false hope. I guess if there's a line you should be able to see it though the plastic window. But yes some of the tests are hard to get a photo from

It's kind of ironic that you're annoyed at the MN community for giving you their thoughts on taking a pregnancy test apart when you took it apart in the first place to ask for their advice. If you don't respect the opinions of people on here, then why are you taking it apart to show/post on MN anyway? We aren't doctors, and you have a set of eyeballs to review the results of the test yourself. There's no need to be rude, people are just trying to help.

I personally take the test apart because sometimes the screen of the test is scratched and I can’t read the results if I have a faint positive

You seem overly angry about this OP. It's not a big deal if someone tells someone else about this and they believe it. If there's a line then the line will still be there when they test again, with or without taking the test apart.
I've never personally seen anyone claim it gives a false positive, just people warning of the higher chance of seeing the indent line or an evap. If you're posting a picture of your test then you're opening yourself up to any and all manner of comments from people. That's how forums work. If you don't like it, don't post a picture. If you're not sure if there's a line then test again a few days later and you'll find out for sure. Strangers on the internet can't magic up lines whether the test has been opened or not.

I've always taken mine apart if they're FRER because of the plastic strip on the back of the test that if it's pushed in will create the indent and allow for the dye to gather in it.

It's each to their own though. I much prefer the IC dip tests because you can't really go wrong.

HEY...IM WRITING TO YOU BECAUSE I JUST OPENED MY CLEAR BLUE DIGITAL PREGNANCY TEST THAT I TOOK THAT TURNED OUT TO BE AN ERROR BOOK...SO DECIDED RIGHT AWAY TO DIP IT IN PEE AGAIN THEN I OPENED UP RIGHT AWAY AND AS I OPEN IT I NOTICED THE DIGITAL SCREEN SWITCH FROM ERROR TO POSITIVE IN A MATTER OF A SECOND AND YES THERE WERE 2 STRONG LINES ON IT AS WELL.
ALSO I FEEL YOYR ANGER WITH THE PEOPLE THAT SWEAR THEY KNOW HOW PREGNANCY TEST WORK BECAUSE IF THEY WILL DO RESEARCH THEY SHOULD KNOW THAT PREGNANCY TEST DONT WORK ON SOMEONE WOMAN IN WHICH BLOOD TEST ONLY WORK FOR THEM. ALSO IM POSITIVE THERES A SHOW NAMED I DIDNT KNOW I WAS PREGNANT.

ALSO PEOPLE WHO SAY OPENING A PREGNANCY TEST THAT THE INSIDE RESPONSE IS INVALID IF YOU SEE 2 STRONG LINES ARE NOT EXPERTES. LAST TIME I CHECKED THEY SALE PREGNANCY TEST STRIPS IN WHICH ITS THE SAME THING THATS INSIDE ALL TEST. AS LONG AS YOU READ IT WITHIN THE TIME FRAME THE TEST TELLS YOU THEN ITS ACCURATE. AS FAR AS I KNOW THERES PLENTY OF WOMAN THAT HAVE EXPIERENCES WITH ALL NARRATIVES.

@EVELYN1029

ALSO PEOPLE WHO SAY OPENING A PREGNANCY TEST THAT THE INSIDE RESPONSE IS INVALID IF YOU SEE 2 STRONG LINES ARE NOT EXPERTES. LAST TIME I CHECKED THEY SALE PREGNANCY TEST STRIPS IN WHICH ITS THE SAME THING THATS INSIDE ALL TEST. AS LONG AS YOU READ IT WITHIN THE TIME FRAME THE TEST TELLS YOU THEN ITS ACCURATE. AS FAR AS I KNOW THERES PLENTY OF WOMAN THAT HAVE EXPIERENCES WITH ALL NARRATIVES.

WHY ARE YOU SHOUTING?

Personally if you’re that obsessed that you need to take pregnancy tests apart then it’s time to take a step back.

IMO pregnancy tests are the worst thing ever invented. They allow too much scope for people to become obsessed, to imagine that they must have had a miscarriage if the test comes back negative but period is still late, so grief for a baby which probably never was, and to be brutally honest, very early miscarriages which would likely just have presented as heavy periods prior to the invention of pregnancy tests cause far more heartbreak than they otherwise should, because to be frank, early miscarriage is extremely, extremely common

And yes, I speak as someone who TTC for 15 months for my first and 6 years for a 2nd which never happened.

I agree @AlternativePerspective - the amount of non-existent lines I see posted on here which are then labelled chemical pregnancies is crazy. Once the tests are out there it’s impossible to stay away from them when it’s something people want so badly.

There’s no such thing as a chemical pregnancy.

The body doesn’t produce HCG until the embrio’ has implanted in the uterus. If a line is so faint that it’s practically non existent then the person is very likely not pregnant.

If the embrio implants then obviously HCG will happen over time, but to claim someone has had a miscarriage because they think that an egg has fertilised achieves nothing.

There’s a statistic somewhere that a lot more eggs fertilise than don’t, something like 8/10, but that the vast majority just pass through. From that perspective you could be ttc for a year and claim you probably had 8 miscarriages which you never did.

Pregnancy tests are the biggest con ever invented which make people who are TTC obsessed and the manufacturers rich.

so I took a pregnancy test this morning with fmu but when I did the test which I followed the instructions. As I was waiting for the urine to cross over it did not it was stuck. So I opened it and once the urine had passed over there were two pink lines. Should I consider this an invalid or a true positive. My period is 3 days away

Help???
I know taking apart tests is invalid but I could swear I seen a faint line so I took it apart to see and the pics are below….

I’ve heard taking them apart causes Evap lines and that there’s always a faint blue line when it gets wet… so I wanted to see

I took another pregnancy test and dipped it in water and took it apart to see and I see no line whatsoever…. At all (no pic shown but can provide)

now what ??????

Hi, was this a digital test you took apart? I've seen online that there's always 2 lines on a digital... If it's not a digital it could be positive, but blue dye tests are just rubbish and in my experience always have a faint evap line.

I took apart a line test , not digital

The first pic is all the tests I swear I see lines on, the second picture is the test dipped in regular water