Fellow™ Sperm Review
Is it worth it in 2024?
- Written by Alex Levine
The Bottom Line: Fellow sperm test is an ideal option for those who want to obtain prompt and reliable information about their sperm quality without any hassle or public disclosure. The sperm test kits are affordable, swift, and precise, delivering the information necessary to move forward with family planning. Fellow kits are available for delivery throughout the continental U.S., except for New York state and Rhode Island, and produce results within 1.5 days of receiving the sample.
Avoiding the need for extended medical appointments or awkward conversations, the kits provide an efficient and accurate way to obtain essential information.
In our review
The basics
There are plenty of reasons to consider freezing your sperm. Perhaps, you want to avoid infertility due to occupational hazards or age. Perhaps you and your partner want to delay childbearing without increasing the risk of infertility, or maybe you are facing serious medical treatments that can lead to infertility, such as chemotherapy.
No matter what your reasons are, cryopreservation is a viable choice that allows you to keep the option of starting a family open for longer. Sperm cryopreservation provides an option for men to preserve their fertility and increase their chances of having children in the future.
Saying that, sperm freezing is not always successful, and there are generally additional costs to consider, both for the storage and the later use of your sperm. As a result, the process is not entirely risk-free.
However, Fellow has made the process seamless. The company first shares comprehensive and physician-approved semen analysis results with its clients and then provides additional information as to how potentially stored samples could be used by fertility clinics later. You can make an informed decision about cryopreservation and whether it will enable you to become a parent in a few years’ time.
What is tested
Are you worried about the accuracy of an at-home test kit? There is no need to be with Fellow test kits. In fact, one simple way of thinking about those kits is to imagine the consultation room in a fertility clinic – plus the convenience of being in your own home.
Fellow’s Semen Analysis Kits consider the same six key sperm metrics that a clinic’s laboratory would consider
Sperm motility: sperm motility tells you how many of the sperm in your sample are swimming. This is important because sperm need to swim to be able to fertilize an egg.
Sperm volume: Fellow measures the amount of semen in your sample in mL. This number can vary considerably depending on when last ejaculated.
Sperm concentration: this metric checks the number of sperm per mL of semen in your sample.
Sperm count: your sperm count tells doctors the total number of sperm in the sample you provided. It is calculated by multiplying sperm concentration by the total volume of the sample.
Total motile sperm count: doctors consider this metric to be the most important of the entire sperm sample. Fellow multiplies volume, concentration, and motility to arrive at this number.
Sperm morphology: this last metric refers to the shape of your sperm. It may come as s a surprise that in any normal sample, only between 4% and 20% of the sperm cells have a normal shape. Medical experts believe this is due to the sheer speed of production, with most men producing around 1,500 sperm cells per second.
Pros and Cons of Fellow Sperm Testing
- Physician-approved results: all results are reviewed and approved by a doctor to ensure their accuracy.
- Clinically valid semen analysis: Fellow not only tests the main six metrics of sperm health, but their patent-pending stabilization technology allows them to calculate your sample’s metrics as if it was produced in a clinic.
- Standalone kits: Fellow also offers budget-friendly standalone kits such as a vasectomy test.
- Fast results: clinically valid and easy-to-understand results will be sent to you within 1.5 days of the Fellow team receiving your kit.
- Budget-friendly: Fellow testing kits cost less than those offered by competitors and include the same clinical-grade reproductive care.
- Does not accept insaurance: all Fellow products are self-pay only.
- Fewer sperm metrics tested: Fellow meets the same rigorous standards that traditional clinics follow. But they do not offer other comprehensive metrics services such as DNA fragmentation analysis.
- No post-result care: you will not receive personalized recommendations for sperm quality improvement as you would from some of the company’s competitors.
How Fellow Works
The process of testing your sperm with Fellow
Fellow sperm test kits can be ordered conveniently online. To protect your privacy, test kits are shipped in a discreet box, making it easy to receive your kit at work, for example. The return shipping box is just as discreet.
Sperm testing works best after you’ve been abstinent for anything between a minimum of 48 hours and a maximum of five days. Within that abstinence window, it is best to produce a sample on a Monday to Thursday, early morning due to the afternoon. This allows you to drop the package at UPS before the day’s shipping deadline.
Your sample is preserved by being placed in a vial of preservation fluid, which ensures that it remains viable for testing and storage. Make sure you do not exceed the expiration date on the vial Most samples reach the laboratory ready to be analyzed. However, if the volume of your sample is not enough, Fellow will reach out to you. Try to reduce stress and put yourself in a comfortable environment where you can relax before testing. Some men find that increasing arousal time also increases the volume of their sample. For more serious concerns about ejaculate volume, consider consulting a doctor.
Another thing to bear in mind is that Fellow can only offer refunds before the kit ships out to you. Once your kit is on its way, you can hold on to it and delay producing a sample, but you are no longer eligible for a full refund.
If you are concerned about your fertility, Fellow
Fellow Semen Analysis Accuracy
Is Felow Semen Testing as Accurate as Lab-Based Tests?
It is hardly a secret that sperm cells deteriorate almost as soon as they leave the human body, typically within a few hours.
Medical professionals refer to this process as sperm degradation. Because of it, the World Health Organization (WHO) only recognizes semen analyses that are performed within one hour of ejaculation as accurate.
So, where does that leave mail-based services like Fellow? In this respect, Fellow is a few steps ahead of its competition. Other mail-in semen analysis providers simply report on the sperm’s quality at the time they receive it, which is usually about 52 hours later. These results are not truly representative of your actual fertility metrics.
Unlike competitors, Fellow provides customers with a vial of preservation fluid designed to mitigate this issue. Plus, the company is the only mail-in semen analysis service with its own CLIA-certified lab and patent-pending methodology to analyze your semen after 52 hours. This process ensures that your results are clinically valid.
So, how exactly can Fellow provide clients like you with accurate results when they receive and analyze the sample hours or days after the sample was created? There are two steps to their unique process:
- First, they keep samples in optimal condition so that fewer sperm die on the way to the lab. The kit includes a preservation solution that extends the life of the sample, a gel pack that keeps the sample at the right temperature, and a sensor that monitors the kit’s temperature and humidity. All these factors minimize any sperm degradation.
- Second, Fellow developed an algorithm that accurately models the rate of sperm degradation over time. That means they can retroactively calculate the sample’s metrics as if it had been produced in a clinic.
More details on how their patent-pending stabilization technology/algorithm works can be found here: https://www.meetfellow.com/blog/fellow%E2%80%99s-accuracy-of-mail-in-semen-analysis-published-in-fertility-sterility/.
Fellow will let you know in your fertility report how many cells they could be storing and offer tailored recommendations.
Fertility services that were founded by a person need are, in our experience, very well thought out and oriented to the customer.
Fellow Vasectomy Test
Can it Confirm the Success of Your Vasectomy?
Aside from semen analysis, Fellow also offers a stand-alone vasectomy test kit. This kit allows men who have undergone a vasectomy procedure to test whether this procedure has been successful without needing to make another doctor’s appointment.
If you want to ensure that you can no longer father a child, a vasectomy test is a budget-friendly option. This simple test checks whether there is sperm in your semen. After a successful vasectomy, the test should be free from any sperm cells.
Just to be clear, the vasectomy test is not the same as a complete semen analysis. This simpler test only checks for the presence of sperm cells. If you and your partner are looking to conceive and you have doubts about your fertility, a vasectomy test will not give you all the answers you nee
Fellow Sperm Test Reviews from around the web
Reviews from around the web
We like to balance our review with other reviews around the web. Our experience isn’t everyone’s experience. Here are a few more data points to help you make an informed decision to take the next step. On Fellow’s website, the Fellow Sperm test kit has an average rating of 4.73/5 stars with 187 reviews.
The Verdict
Our own experience with Fellow Sperm Tests
Fellow’s sperm test kit has received an impressive average rating of 4.73 out of 5 stars on its website. Customers have praised the kit for allowing a calm and relaxed environment for sample collection. They also appreciated the straightforward instructions and prompt results, often received within days.
These mail-in tests are as dependable as those taken in conventional fertility clinics. Fellow ensures the sample’s integrity and accuracy through a specialized preservation solution. Their CLIA-certified lab delivers trustworthy results in under two business days.
Many users commend Fellow’s fertility kits for their simplicity, comfort, and precision. The kits offer detailed results on six vital fertility indicators. Moreover, Fellow provides an affordable kit specifically for men wishing to confirm their vasectomy results.
Clinical validation for Fellow’s mail-in test came after a research study. In this study, hundreds of semen samples were analyzed. The findings confirmed that the mail-in tests matched the accuracy of samples tested within an hour of being produced
Comparing online fertility clinics
Oma Fertility vs. Kindbody vs. Sprint Fertility
| Fertility Clinics | Oma Fertility | Kindbody | Spring Fertility |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fertility Services | IVF, Egg Freezing, Frozen Embryo Transfer, IVF with Donor Eggs | Gynecology Services, Egg Freezing, IUI, IVF, Frozen Embryo Transfer, | Ovulation Induction, IUI, IVF, IVF with Donor Eggs, Egg Freezing, Frozen Embryo Transfer |
| ICSI Available | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Costs | IVF with ICSI: $9,000 | IVF Starts at $12,500 | You must sign up to see prices |
| Consultation Overview | Yes | Yes, For a Fee | Yes, For a Fee |
| 7 Day a Week Appointments | Yes | No | No |
| Counseling and Support Included in the Pricing | Yes | No | No |
| Blood Works Included in the Pricing | Yes | It depends on the Service | Yes |
| Accepts Insurance | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Locations | CA and MO | CA, CO, GA, IL, MI, MN, MO, NJ, NY, TX, WA, WI | CA, NY, and Canada |
| Website |
