Wellness tech corporations are increasingly interested in bodily fluids like blood, urine, sweat, and saliva. At CES 2026, it’s time so as to add menstrual blood to that checklist, too. Well being tech startup Vivoo simply introduced the FlowPad, a roughly $4 to $5 menstrual pad that doubles as an at-home hormone take a look at for follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH). Customers will have the ability to both view the outcomes immediately from the pad or take an image with the Vivoo app to get extra insights.
“We began as a vaginal pH monitoring liner in your panties that may change shade with vaginal discharge,” Vivoo CEO and cofounder Miray Tayfun tells The Verge. “It’s advanced right into a interval pad with microfluidic channels that seize blood, and below the pad, there’s a window that exhibits your FSH ranges.”
Tayfun says the advantage of integrating a hormone take a look at right into a pad is it’s a hygienic product that menstruating individuals already use. The problem, nevertheless, is that blood tends to dry rapidly. In different blood-based at-home checks, Tayfun explains, customers typically must dilute the pattern with an answer. To embed this type of take a look at right into a pad, Vivoo needed to replicate that course of in a skinny but wearable design.
The pad itself has two layers. One is a “capillary seize layer” that attracts within the blood and filters out particulates. A second “biomarker response layer” has stabilized reagents that work together with the blood to detect FSH. So, primarily, you go about your day, bleed into the pad, and when it’s time to modify out, view your outcomes. The outcomes are proven on the again of the pad in a windowed space, which you’ll be able to see within the image above. It resembles a being pregnant or covid-19 take a look at. High levels of FSH can point out decrease ovarian reserves, fertility points, or situations comparable to polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).
“The principle purpose right here is to make one hygienic pad lower than $5, so a interval gained’t value you greater than $30,” says Tayfun, noting that the Vivoo crew was conscious of how pricey sanitary merchandise might be. “It doesn’t must be a perpetually product.”
Whereas somebody might use the pads for every day of their cycle, Tayfun says it’s meant to be worn on the second or third day. Relying on what the consumer is searching for, it could possibly be worn for just a few months constantly or intermittently. To date, Vivoo estimates pricing at $4 to $5 per pad, with the opportunity of subscription and pack configurations when the product is nearer to launch. At first, Tayfun says the corporate shall be rolling out entry to researchers, medical companions, and current Vivoo customers.
The thought is for menstruating individuals to be taught one thing from their FSH ranges, which might be an indicator of fertility ranges, irregular cycles, and hormonal patterns. That could possibly be helpful for individuals hoping to get pregnant, deal with hormonal situations like PCOS, or those that suspect they might be getting into perimenopause, the transitional time between an individual’s fertile years and menopause. Tayfun says the perfect consumer is somebody of their 30s to roughly age 45.
