Thursday, November 07, 2002

Contraception & Family Planning

Chicago Tribune Profiles New Products for Tracking Fertility, Ovulation

      The Chicago Tribune yesterday examined a number of new products designed to help women predict ovulation and monitor their fertility. Unlike products designed for contraception, these products are meant to assist women with "proception" -- the deliberate attempt to become pregnant. Some of the products that are new to the market or still under development are listed below:

• Cyclebeads are necklaces with colored beads that women can use to calculate which days in their menstrual cycles they are most likely to conceive. One set of beads costs $12.50 and can be purchased from family planning clinics or online.
  
• The Donna Ovulation Test is a saliva-based home ovulation test kit that is shaped like a lipstick tube and contains a small microscope used to examine saliva samples to detect rising estrogen levels. The kit, which costs approximately $60, is available at pharmacies and online.
  
• The PSC Fertility Monitor is a wristwatch-based device that predicts ovulation by measuring sweat ion changes on the skin. The suggested retail price of the product, which can be purchased online, is about $199.
  
• Proctor & Gamble researchers are developing pantyliners that change color when ovulation is approaching.
  
• Several fertility-related Web sites offer free computer software programs that allow women to enter information about their menstrual cycles and track their fertility online (Goldman, Chicago Tribune, 11/6).