What You Need to Know About Pap Smears: Fast Facts for the Time Crunched Woman

If you have that I’m-already-spread-too-thinly-to-read-one-more-thing feeling when it comes to staying up to date about medical info, this update is for you.  It has just what you need to know about Pap smears in an easy to scan list of fast facts, made especially for the time crunched woman.

Recently, I wrote a long, detailed post about important, new information that you need to know about Pap smears: 8 little known things about Pap smears.  Here’s the short and sweet version for those of you who are BUSY.

1. Pap smears look for cervical cancer.

2. Cervical cancer is caused by HPV*.

3. Cervical cancer is SLOW and takes decades to show up.

4. The way we best find cervical cancer has radically changed; gone are the days of yearly Pap smears for everyone.

5. The American Cancer Society, the US Preventive Services Task Force and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists finally agree on something and that something is how to best screen for cervical cancer!

6. Pap smears should start no sooner than age 21 and if normal, should be repeated every 3 years until age 30.

7. At age 30, it’s best to do Paps and a test for the kinds of HPV that cause the most cancer (high risk HPV). If both the Pap and the HPV test are negative, it should be repeated in 5 years.

8. Once you turn 65 and you’ve had 10 years worth of normal Paps, you should still see your doctor once a year, but you stop Paps.

9. Once you have a hysterectomy, most likely, you never need another Pap smear again.

10. Doing Pap smears more often than above can lead to finding mildly, abnormal changes.  These change will resolve spontaneously.  In the past, acting on these mild abnormalities lead to many extra biopsies, procedures and surgeries, all without finding any extra cervical cancer.

11. There are exceptions to this more hands-off approach: if you’ve had cervical cancer, certain pre-cancerous changes, if you have HIV, if you were exposed in utero to DES**, or if your immune system is not robust, for example, because you have had a solid organ transplant, then these new guidelines are not for you.

12.  Pap smears and pelvic exams are two different things.

13.  Lastly, all medical care must be individualized.

Thanks for taking time out of your crazy life to read down this far!