All women and people with a cervix every five years now smear test

[justasking111]

Five years in Wales is this the norm in England, Scotland, Ireland?

Our surgery put it up on their FB page this week.

It was three years here last time I checked.

Yabu it's fine no reason to be concerned

Yanbu it's too big a gap.

I'm not sure all cervical cancers are caused by HPV, it says 'nearly all' on the NHS page so that means that unless they're properly testing the cells not just for HPV then some women are being missed.

HPV can lie dormant for decades
Being very ill (with covid etc) pregnancy and anything else that lowers the immune system can set it off . I've seen posts on here where people married 20-30 years have tested positive for the 1st time . Menopause seems to also be a time it can flare up again .
So much misinformation around regarding this .

Screening programmes are (or should be) based on good science. There are good reasons why women under 25 do not need screening (overdiagnosis and harms of unnecessary procedures) and older women also do not need screening. HPV is implicated in nearly all cervical cancers, and with the vaccination rolling through the population, and collection of evidence in these populations, it is likely that the programme will change.

Please see https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/cervical-screening/ or https://www.gov.uk/guidance/cervical-screening-programme-overview for more details. Of course symptoms (unscheduled bleeding, post-coital bleeding, pain etc) should be investigated so don't rely on a normal screen.

It is often forgotten that screening also can cause harms as well as benefits. People who have had cancers picked up by screening are often very grateful (understandably) for the programme, but more screening is not always a good thing. This argument and toing and froing on breast cancer screening illustrates this.

'Women's healthcare'

The irony...

No they are not.
A trans man may well have a cervix still and absolutely needs the appropriate preventative screening for them.

Is that so bloody difficult to understand?!! 🙄

To add, I've also known people who have had the vaccine test positive and have abnormal cells

it was demonstrated on morning TV quite recently. It looked pretty much foolproof.

It's 25 now for your first smear test.

I thought it was three years Is this another change?
Two years after my last one I had cancer signs and had precancerous cells in my Uterus.
I think it needs to be 3 years 5 is too long.

A trans man will quite possibly have a cervix.
HTH

Only women have a cervix. Transmen are men so do not have a cervix. HTH.

Post menopause I couldn't even get a caneston pessary in when I had thrush

"Trans man - Wikipedia" https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans_man

They were born female. Suggest you educate yourself

just recently had 1, next 1 is at 49, and after that every 5 years.

Is it so difficult to understand that they are a woman.

Women need healthcare full stop lets not say people with a cervix, I will wait for you to provide evidence of a biological male (do not use intersex people as they do not want to be used by the trans community) with a cervix, I then will stand corrected.

So they aren't allowed to identify as a woman?
You do know it's not up to you?

HTH

Referring to women as ‘people with a cervix’ is anti women. Only girls/women have a cervix, it’s a matter of biology/sex not gender beliefs.

OK I am usually not on board AT ALL with the "people who have a cervix" nonsense but in this case it really is the best terminology. Anyone who has a cervix needs a smear.

I am a woman, I have gestated and birthed three children. I also no longer have a cervix as it was whipped out along with my uterus. So I don't need a smear.

Not all women have a cervix, but everyone who does have a cervix is a woman. The problem is that trying to be inclusive leads to non-clear language, there are loads of women out there who wouldn't know the word cervix and whether they have one or not. Perhaps better to say "all women who have not had their cervix removed".

Well that's depressing.

You can be a virgin when you marry. Your husband can give you HPV

@TheSpoonyNavyReader
Your post doesn't make sense, I'm presuming it's a typo but I'm not sure we'll ever meet in the middle so absolutely no need for clarity.

Good for them. They’ll know they’re female so the word woman in the context of medical health applies to them. How they choose to reflect themselves in a sociological way has nothing to do with that.

When I last had a smear (2023) which had to be at colposcopy because I have anatomical complications, I was told I'll probably be doing the next one myself so assume they're moving towards a self swab for HPV then clinical follow up those who test positive.

The ignorance on here about transmen after all this time is depressing

If you've had the HPV vaccine it's still really important to have your smear test. HPV vaccines don't protect again all types of HPV, there are more than 100.