Although your Ovatel scope is small enough to fit in your purse. Ovatel is a mini-microscope that does not require batteries or a power cord for a high-powered light. The lens on your fertility scope magnifies the contents of the slide by a factor of 54x. This allows you to see the ferning and crystallizing pattern that occurs as a result of estrogen surges in the body.
Magnification of Ovatel
The magnification of Ovatel is just as sophisticated as any other magnifying device. The magnifying portion of the lens is adjusted into focus simply by moving it closer or further away from your eyesight. You do not have to deal with confusing knobs to help focus on the slide. Hold the slide up to a bright light and focus your eyes to look for ferning.
Estrogen is always in your body, so small amounts of crystals will be in your saliva after it dries. As your estrogen peaks during your fertile window, you will see more and more crystals in your sample. Right before ovulation, the estrogen level is so high that the crystals will make a pattern that looks like a fern leaf. This pattern means that ovulation is going to occur within 24-48 hours.
Why Only Estrogen? Aren’t There Other Hormones at Work?
While there are many hormones that make up a woman’s cycle, estrogen is the key hormone that increases right before ovulation. All of the body’s hormones must work together for the body to ovulate correctly. But estrogen is made in higher quantities at only one time per cycle – the follicular phase or the first half of the cycle that begins with the first day of bleeding.
Once your period has started, your ovaries are stimulated by the pituitary’s (a small gland in the brain) release of a hormone known as FSH—or follicle stimulating hormone. Follicles (cysts) hold the egg prior to release. Many follicles will begin to grow, but only 1-2 will mature per cycle. This dominant follicle that houses the egg makes the estrogen, which makes it grow bigger until the egg is released.
Ovatel shows the predictive power of the estrogen content in the saliva that is measured by the amount of ferning on the lens. Having intercourse the five days before and including the day of ovulation increase the chances of becoming pregnant.