Personal Fertility Monitors

Personal Fertility Monitors are relatively inexpensive monitoring devices that can be used in the privacy of ones’ home. There are two commercially available. The oldest is Clearblue or Clearplan Easy Fertility Monitor and has been available without a prescription since the 1990’s. The other is the Persona Monitor and is only available via the Internet. Both monitors detect hormones in urine to help women monitor their menstrual cycles and the fertile phase to help either achieve or avoid pregnancy.

The Clearblue Easy Monitor produces a fertility reading of “low,” “high,” or “peak” with “high” indicating an elevated estrogen level (estrone-3-glucuronide) and “peak,” a surge in luteinizing hormone (LH). The Persona Monitor displays a green light during the infertile part of a woman’s cycle and a green light during the fertile phase, and an egg symbol, which indicates the LH surge detecting ovulation which is the most fertile time to conceive. The Persona Monitor may be more helpful in detecting ovulation especially in women with short menstrual cycles.

If ovulation is not detectable or if detectable and pregnancy has not been achieved within six months of using these devices, then help from a Reproductive Endocrinologist, Infertility Specialist should be sought.