Great news about Pap smears!
Authored by Dr. Elizabeth Reynoso on 2/22/2013
Authored by Elizabeth Reynoso
2/22/2013
Categories: Health News, Female Sexual Health, Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology, Gynecology
Categories: Health News, Female Sexual Health, Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology, Gynecology
As women growing up it has always been drilled into our heads to go get a dreaded Pap smear once a year every year from 18 years old on. I may be an OB/GYN but I am not ashamed to admit that this is one of my least favorite things to have done. So for those of you who share my "love" of Pap smears (and those of you who don't too) I have good news for you! After countless years of research we have A. Discovered what causes cervical cancer and B. realized that we don't have to screen for it (a pap smear is a screening test for cells that can cause cervical cancer) as frequently as we do. I'll go through these two important facts in detail to attempt to answer any questions you may have.
Let's start with what causes cervical cancer (I feel like there should be a drum roll here!) The culprit is a virus called human papilloma virus or HPV. HPV is a virus of many, many types. It is acquired through sexual intercourse and the type we are talking about today has NO symptoms for men or women AND transmission is not always prevented by condoms use (although condom use for sure significantly lowers the risk or HPV as well as preventing multiple other sexually transmitted diseases and unplanned pregnancies when used every time, in the right way!). Most of the time when you get HPV it is a transient infection or in normal people words, just like when you get a cold, you get it, your body fights it off, and it goes away (the immune system is an amazing thing!) However occasionally when you are infected with certain, high risk strains (high risk means types that are more likely to become cancer) your body does not completely fight off the infection and you get a persistent infection. Then over years, it can cause some of the cells on your cervix to grow abnormally and become what we like to call dysplasia or abnormal cells with the potential to turn into cancer. These are the cases when you may get an abnormal Pap smear. But like I said, this takes YEARS to occur.
This brings me to point B: how often do I need a Pap smear. So since we know cervical cancer is caused by HPV (only) and it is a very slow growing virus that most often our body can fight off all on its own, we realized we were doing Pap smears way, way too often. There are excellent studies that show that doing a Pap smear every 3-5 years depending on your age pick up just as many cervical cancers as doing it every year AND prevents many people from having extra procedures that they may not actually need. So without further ado, here are the new guidelines according to the American cancer society, American college of ob/gyns, and many other important societies:
1. First Pap smear should be done at age 21
2. Women age 21-29: Pap smear every 3 years
3. Women age 30-65: Pap and test for HPV every 5 years
4. Women older than 65: No more paps necessary after adequate negative screening results
5. Women who have had a hysterectomy: No more paps necessary
These recommendations are obviously dependent on your personal history and your health care provider's best judgement. Most importantly, even though you don't need a pap every year, all women still should have an annual exam evaluating the rest of your reproductive organs including your breasts, uterus, and ovaries and your general health in addition.
Hopefully this has cleared up some confusion that you may have been having about the recent changes. If you have questions please make an appointment with your health care provider to further discuss your health care screening. Have a great day!
