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.

Just to say that anyone with symptoms like bleeding between periods or after sex , does not need an extra smear. Smears are a screening teat for people with no symptoms. Someone with symptoms needs diagnostic tests

Seems a lot better system than the UK.

It's literally like shouting into the void on here.
Trans men have a cervix. Is it so hard to understand? Really?!

They need to be checking for precancerous cells rather than HPV. It's appalling.

@Harvestmoon49
Please stop derailing this thread 🙄

@libertybonds

Transmen are well aware that they are actually women you know?
As are women who declare themselves "non binary"

I’m yearly due to hpv positive for 3 years then cell changes. Before I was every 3 years.

Yes same here.

I stopped going once the test switched to the HPV test only

I've not had sex since my last (clear) test, but was HPV+ this time and have a recall in a year. Even if you haven't changed partner, or haven't had sex since your last Pap test, you should still get checked out when you're offered a smear. As a pp said, HPV can lie dormant for decades and affect anyone who's ever had sex.

You mean females.

3 years in England. Just had mine and the letter said next one will be due 2027.

Some people have cervixes but don’t call themselves women, it is important that they still feel welcome to access medical care such as smear tests. Some people on here need to stop being deliberately obtuse.

Its not obtuse to be factual.

Also with the vaccine now there will be hopefully much few cases and so at least a generation will be much better protected. I had cervical cancer and it's not fun. If anyone does have any worries don't wait to be invited .

Thank you @BurntBroccoli and @FragileIsAsFragileDoes - very interesting.

It annoys me when someone on MN says they don't want to have a smear test (for a variety of reasons) and there's inevitably a pile on with dozens of women telling her she's stupid or trying to scare her with tragic stories.

It's my understanding that they only test for HPV now - and only if it's present will they investigate further. As someone who's been sleeping with the same man for 30 years (with no infidelities on either part!), I'm even less concerned than I was before.

As a side note, though, could we PLEASE stop all this virtue signalling nonsense about 'people with a cervix'. The only 'people' that have a cervix are women. When it comes to an actual medical procedure, how people 'identify' is neither here nor there.

It annoys me when someone on MN says they don't want to have a smear test (for a variety of reasons) and there's inevitably a pile on with dozens of women telling her she's stupid or trying to scare her with tragic stories.

It's not 'trying to scare' someone.. cervical cancer can kill you

Unless a transgender man also 'identifies' as gay, then he's unlikely to be having penetrative sex with a man, which would make a smear test largely unnecessary.

But, respectfully, you know you haven't got one. You don't need it to be declared in NHS literature. Same goes for trans men. They will know they have a cervix. So I think it's pretty safe to use the universally accepted term 'women'.

It's not 'trying to scare' someone.. cervical cancer can kill you

Well yes, we know that. But the poster almost certainly won't get it as it's so rare. But she might have unnecessary treatment, so we all need to know the facts about screening so we can make an informed decision. Rather than be told "get a smear or you could leave your kid without a mum!"

As a person with a cervix, I'm not sure it's wise to reduce the time between checks. I avoid my cervical screening anyway because I hate it.

Fine with the language. Not everyone with a cervix is a woman. I thought MNHQ had put a stop to this discussion anyway?

I personally know more than one trans male with a (biologically) male partner, who would be at risk of HPV as a result. The wording would be geared to people like those in this situation - I don’t see how inclusive language in this instance is harmful. It just serves as a reminder to trans people that the body they were born in needs to be checked and examined to ensure they stay healthy. How I see it, anything that encourages people to look after themselves is a good thing!

edit: oops, hadn’t seen MN’s message above that the discussion of language was over. Sorry! Ignore me.

But surely they know their female body needs to be checked?

And yes I saw MN's comment after I posted but, to be honest, I think the OP's initial mention of 'people with a cervix' was always going to derail the thread right from the start.

People are merely highlighting that using this terminology is precisely what makes this topic confusing - not helpful when discussing an important health issue.

If OP had ONLY said women, we would ONLY be talking about smear tests.

'Unless a transgender man also 'identifies' as gay, then he's unlikely to be having penetrative sex with a man, which would make a smear test largely unnecessary.'

Why? If you’ve had sexual contact of any kind with anyone and at any point in your life , then it's necessary. You don't just get it from penetrative sex via a penis . It's skin contact . You can have it for decades dormant and active, coming and going with no symptoms . Which is why HPV is so prevalent as condoms don't protect from it .

Inclusive language harms no one harms women