HPV testing for women

Many doctors will argue that testing for HPV is an art, not a science. This simply means that there is no precise, one hundred percent accurate way to test for HPV.

The most common symptoms of HPV, being warts, are generally easy to identify. Be they common or genital warts, they’re easily spotted by their conspicuous cauliflower like appearance.

Even so, if you suspect that you have contracted HPV, it is a good idea to have your doctor verify this. Oftentimes, what may be a simple blemish, a pimple, or something else entirely may be misidentified as a wart, and the wrong treatment may be applied, as such, it’s always wise to attain a professional’s opinion.

That said, warts are not the primary concern in HPV testing for women. The primary concern is the risk of HPV types 16 or 18 developing into cervical cancer.

A lot of attention is paid in the media to the problems of breast cancer, of HIV, and, more recently, of Swine Flu. It seems odd, then, that so little attention is paid to cervical cancer and HPV, as, every year, cervical cancer kills an estimated forty thousand women. The vast majority of these cases are linked to human papilloma virus.

To be clear, the HPV strains that do lead to cervical cancer are not the types that lead to genital warts and similar conditions. Rather, the HPV types that lead to cervical cancer show absolutely no symptoms visible to the naked eye. Vaginal bleeding may occur, but it is much more common for the condition to show absolutely no symptoms until the cancer has developed into an advanced stage.

You check yourself for lumps and you check your skin for spots after a day in the sun, it is equally important to have a regular pap smear conducted.

You will want to talk to your doctor to arrange scheduled pap smears. The information below will provide a rough guideline, but there are several factors at play, besides your age, that should determine how frequently you should have the test conducted.

For sexually active women or women over the age of eighteen, you should have a pap smear conducted once every one, two, or three years. Although many doctors insist on an annual pap test for any woman aged eighteen to thirty.

A majority of doctors believe that a woman who has reached the ages of sixty five to seventy with no abnormal test results may safely stop having the test conducted. Most women who have had hysterectomies performed do not need pap smears after two or three years of normal results.

A woman who has had a series of abnormal test results may be asked to take a pap test every six months in order for her doctor to keep a close eye on the situation. Abnormal test results may be a bit ambiguous, and it may be hard to identify the problem, if there even is a problem in the first place, with a single pap smear.

When portions of the cervix are removed or operated on in response to an abnormal test result, an annual test should be conducted in order to check for recurrence of abnormal cell growth

Most importantly, you should absolutely not neglect your doctor’s advice regarding a regular pap test. Even if you believe a regular pap test to be unnecessary due to your age or other circumstance, you should not stop having the test conducted until your doctor says so.