Is there any point - smear

[theskyispurple]

I'm almost 50, married for 10 years, never had abnormal smear results.
I know that the cells only get looked at if the hpv test is positive.
What are the chances of me having hpv now considering that it has never shown up before?
Trying to minimise unnecessary anything in my life - is this something I can cut?

Please go for your smear ... I have seen a woman die of cervical cancer.
Women in their 50’s plus who are not screened are at the biggest risk.
it is uncomfortable but quick and may save your life . ( From a GP)

I don’t know where you’ve got this ‘information’ from but it’s false. My smears are always HPV negative but the first one came back as showing severe dyskaryosis, so they must’ve looked at it despite being HPV neg. I had to see a colposcopist and have part of my cervix removed to prevent cancer. Go for your smear test.

My last 2 smears (over the last 18 months) have come back as HPV positive. This is despite me being with DH for 15 years and sleeping with no one else. I trust that he hasn't either. It can flare up at any time.

but the cancer won't be found if the sample is discarded.

Banjovio it isn't false. Initially there were pilot sites throughout the country that trialled HPV testing but this has now been rolled out everywhere. If your routine smear is HPV negative they do not look at the cells.
Practice nurse.

So are our samples only looked at if HPV is found ? There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of transparency around this issue.

Thank you for this info. I recently had a very painful smear due to my tilted cervix but had no idea I may aswell have just bought a swab test !

It isn't just a swab.
It's a brush that has to be inserted into the centre of the cervix and rotated five times to obtain certain cervical cells from a specific place. That's why it doesn't just always take a few seconds and can be tricky and uncomfortable.

They only test if HPV test comes back positive.

However there are other (rare) forms of cervical cancer that can be detected by a trained eye when doing the examination and other things they might spot that require further examination so why would you not go?

@cptartapp not for hpv test I don't think?

My letter said they'd only tested for HPV

A smear test taken by a nurse is always taken in the way outlined below. Regardless if it's for primary HPV testing. If it's positive, they use the same sample to look for abnormal cells.
No swabbing involved.
I've taken thousands.

@isthismylifenow this is amazing. In the UK there doesn't seem to be many preventative tests. You only go to the go once you have symptoms of something, by which time it's probably too late, not to mention the lengthy waiting times to actually be seen and get test results. I've recently been for a CT scan. Been told minimum of 8 weeks for results

Which is a real problem. There's no informed consent when people don't know what will happen to their sample.

My mum went for what was supposed to be her last smear (60+) and they found abnormal cells. She’s had to have several treatments since then to keep her cancer free. She has been married to my dad for 40 years. Just go!

I had this conversation with the practice nurse as I know there’s no way I have HPV. She said they have a good look at the cervix while doing the test to check for any obvious abnormalities so still worth going. I’m also thinking of paying for a private smear which would look for abnormal cells. I think it’s about £120.

My health trust is completely transparent about it - when you get your invitation letter you also get a proper printed leaflet about the test, with all the info about HPV testing etc, so it’s totally clear.

Erosion is completely NORMAL.Its nothing to do with cervical cancer. Just to reassure you 👍😀

they do not open your cervix.

Yikes, and you have not been sent for a CT for a willy nilly reason.

Granted our health care is private and we do have to pay towards health insurance, so I suppose I cannot compare private treatment to public treatment.

But i have picked a few things already one being a bladder issue, which has been resolved by emptying it properly, if not it may have resulted in a prolapse.

How I see it, a preventative test is so much cheaper than full treatment for cancer, surgeries etc etc.

I am wondering if this has been decided on as more of UK population have had the hpv vaccine? What age group have been routinely vaccinated for this? Here it's only given as routine to girls age 9 to 14 at this point.

Why? Mine are only tested for HPV which I don't have and am not at risk from catching now.

The screening service will not even look at the cells they take so if I do have cancer or a pre cancerous change it will not be picked up.

@Elphame it can lie dormant for years. It has been over 15 years since I slept with anyone other than my DH and despite having regular smears every 3 years for the last how many years once I turned 25 I only tested positive for HPV following a smear in late 2020.

Just because you don't have it now doesn't mean you won't have it in the future even if you don't sleep with anyone else.

I'm currently weighing this up as mine is due. Does anyone know whether there's any value in the nurse 'manually checking' your cervix during the test? I mean they sometimes say 'everything looks healthy' so does that mean they can tell if it doesn't? I'm peri and experiencing heavy periods/flooding in the last few months so my gut feeling is to have my smear in case there's anything untoward going on, but if it really is only HPV they test for I'm not sure there's any point and I may as well buy a swab from Boots 🤷🏻‍♀️

The youngest girls who had HPV jabs will be about 30 now.

I think one could probably argue for two different pathways based on being HPV vaccinated or not. If you aren't HPV vaccinated then you could argue that a smear test with the extracted cells tested for HPV is a reasonable balance because HPV is pretty much endemic and so the likelihood is you will need to review the sample. But for people who were vaccinated you could do an HPV swab first as if you're discarding (made up figure) 80% of samples without physical review then the invasiveness of the test probably isn't justified.

@theskyispurple I've been in a monogamous relationship for ten years, always had negative smears untl my last one, which showed HPV. So yes, it is entirely possible for HPV to remain dormant for that long - please continue having them!

It worries me how many people don't understand this. Exact same position as you, my first HPV positive result was 13 years into my relationship with DH.