During a Pap smear the most uncomfortable part will be when the doctor inserts a speculum into your vagina. However, the pain should be minimal and brief. Peter Dazeley/Getty Images A Pap smear is a ...

While the Pap was invented in the 1940s and involves inspecting cervical cells for precancerous or cancerous shifts, in the ...

Self-administered HPV tests involve inserting a plastic tube — similar to a tampon — into the vagina, then twisting the ...

The guidelines, published Jan. 5 by the Health Resources and Services Administration, now recommend that average-risk women ...

Dr. Carla Picardo wants to clear up the confusion about pap smears. A pap smear is a routine procedure to test for cervical cancer in women. Cells are collected from a woman's cervix — the lower, ...

If a person receives a positive human papillomavirus (HPV) result from a Pap smear, they need a colposcopy to confirm the diagnosis. This is a minimally invasive procedure that healthcare ...

So you're about to turn 25, and the letter's landed on your doormat: it's time for your first ever smear test. Or, alternatively, you've long bid farewell to 25, and you've just been putting off the ...

A smear test itself is a standard procedure. All women aged 25-49 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are invited for a cervical screening every three years (while in Scotland it's every five years ...

I’m reluctant to have a smear test because since the menopause it has become uncomfortable, leaving me sore for a few days afterwards. I’ve just had another invitation for screening and keep putting ...

I had smear-test anxiety long before I got my first invitation letter from my GP asking me to come in for my first cervical screening. And when it arrived, just after my 25th birthday, I still ...

A Pap smear is a procedure that screens for cervical cancer by testing cells for any abnormalities. If your Pap results are abnormal that does not mean you have cancer, and more likely indicates HPV.