Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Maybe you had a bad experience with your last Pap smear and you’re wary of going back to the ob-gyn. Or maybe you’ve never had one ...

The pap smear (or pap test) is one of the cornerstones of women's health. It was introduced in the 1940's as a way to screen for abnormal cervical cells. Starting at the age of 21 women are ...

If you can’t remember when you had your last pap smear, there’s a chance you might be due for another. So how often should you get a pap smear, exactly? We asked Dr. Margo Harrison, MD, OBGYN and Head ...

Many women are likely familiar with the Pap smear, but some might not know about the HPV test (human papillomavirus test). Pap smears and HPV tests are the most common ways to detect cervical cancer, ...

An abnormal Pap smear means some percentage of your cervix cells appear abnormal in shape or size. In most cases, an abnormal Pap smear does not indicate cancer and is in fact caused by HPV. If you ...

Each year, about 14,000 new cases of cervical cancer are diagnosed in the U.S., but thanks to Pap smears, deaths from the disease have dropped significantly over the past few decades. The test, which ...

Q: It’s time for my daughter to have a Pap smear, but she’s putting it off because it was so painful last time. I wonder if switching to a female doctor might help? It’s a very unpleasant test and I ...

A test for HPV detects precancerous changes of the cervix earlier and more accurately than the Pap smear, according to a large clinical trial published Tuesday. Get ...