Does the Control Line on a pregnancy test go away after several minutes?

By C4521 June 18, 2013 - 7:41pm

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I am on the birth control pill and I missed some pills a couple weeks ago. I have no idea if I ovulated or not, but I felt possible ovulation pain 13-14 days ago. Since you can get an accurate pregnancy test reading 13/14 dpo, I decided to test. I was very happy that the test came back negative. I decided to leave it out for a while (longer than the 3 minutes) just to look at it in case. I looked at it again a while later and it was still negative but I noticed that the control line (the vertical line that shows up to tell you that your test is valid and working properly) was not there. Now I can't even remember if it was ever there in the first place. If it wasn't that means my test was invalid and the results meant nothing. I have no problem with buying another test tomorrow, plus I have an even greater chance of having an accurate result if I wait another day. I guess I'm just curious, do the control lines fade after a while? I can't find any good answers online so I figured someone else could share their experience.

Thanks!

Add a Comment2 Comments

Anonymous

Hi C4521,

Welcome to EmpowHER. Sometimes, temperature such as a cool or dry place and light, may cause it to fade. You might want to retake the test or try a different brand, if you are not sure of the results.

Best,

Daisy

June 19, 2013 - 4:18am

C4521

P.S. I do know that any reading after a certain amount of time is totally inaccurate, so I wasn't going to look at it and rely on what it said after it had been sitting a while..I just happened to notice the line was not there. Now I am just wondering if the control line could have faded, or if it was never there in the first place.

June 18, 2013 - 7:46pm