Enjoying yourself isn’t just about the latest sex toy you know, LOL. It’s about a healthy lifestyle, practicing safe sex and making sure that you spot any potential problems before they develop into a serious issue.

One potential problem area that can affect men as they get older is the prostate. Sometimes you might not have the time to get into the surgery to see a doctor, or not be able to get a convenient appointment. In which case you might consider doing a test at home.

The test is based around a small plastic tablet containing a porous medium and works using chromatography. The test takes about 15 minutes including reading the instructions and ten of those are simply waiting for the test to complete.

First you need to take a blood sample. I found this to be the most difficult bit. An alcohol wipe and spring loaded lancet are provided, but I had trouble getting it to penetrate the skin on my fingertips. If you do manual work you’re probably best using it on your ring finger as this tends to have the softest skin. I haven’t working in a workshop environment for years and yet when I tried it on my index finger I only produced the tiniest of drops of blood. Anyway, with a good, healthy drop of blood on my finger I filled the dropper provided and dripped it into the sample well in the test tablet, then waited 90 seconds.

Next I added five drops of the test solution, slowly, because each takes time to absorb. It was then a case of waiting exactly ten minutes and reading the result. The result is very clear and easy to read. A control line marked “C” appears to show the test is valid and a test line “T” appears if you have a positive result. Mine was unequivocally negative.

I was rather relieved at the result because despite having no reason to believe I had a problem I read up on prostate cancer and discovered that you can be asymptomatic and still have the condition. You can read more about the prostate here

The Prostate Health Test Kit is an easy and quick way to test for Prostate Specific Antigen and therefore health problems that this might indicate. It’s convenient and could pick up a problem early, and by doing so ensure that if you do have an issue with your prostate it can be treated quickly and with a positive outcome. But whether you use the Pasante Prostate Health Test or not if you have any worries about the health of your prostate you should consult your GP, or if you live in the UK talk to NHS direct on 0845 46 47. More information about prostate health here.