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Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
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Tests and diagnosis
By Mayo Clinic staff- Tape test. The most accurate test for pinworms is a cellophane tape test. Your doctor will press a piece of clear plastic tape against the skin around your anus and then examine the tape under a microscope for pinworm eggs. Because the parasite typically lays eggs at night, you may be able to get a good sample by testing yourself first thing in the morning before defecating or bathing. Press a piece of clear plastic tape to your anus, and then take the sample to your doctor. Several tape samples may be necessary to establish the diagnosis.
- Direct sighting of a worm. Sometimes the presence of pinworms is more obvious, as is the case when an adult worm is seen in the area around your anus, in your underwear or in the toilet after going to the bathroom.
