But while genetic testing can offer a person insight into potential physical problems, they're not foolproof. No one regulates the accuracy of most of those tests, even though mistakes can be life-altering.

Is genetic testing really effective?

Genetic testing is useful in many areas of medicine and can change the medical care you or your family member receives. For example, genetic testing can provide a diagnosis for a genetic condition such as Fragile X or information about your risk to develop cancer. There are many different kinds of genetic tests.

Is genetic testing ever wrong?

Rarely, tests results can be false negative, which occur when the results indicate a decreased risk or a genetic condition when the person is actually affected. In some cases, a test result might not give any useful information.