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Dedicated to Women's Health |
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Birth Control When should I get a pap smear? Pap smears are recommended every year for women starting at age 21 or when you become sexually active. If you’re over 30, have never had an abnormal pap smear, and are in a monogamous relationship, you can consider having a pap smear every other year. I've had a hysterectomy. Do I need to continue seeing a gynecologist? Yes. Even if you don’t have a uterus anymore, the check-up with the gynecologist includes more than just a pap smear. We also do your breast exam as well as a general physical. Plus, we look for other kinds of cancers that can develop, such as cancer of the vagina. When can I expect to get the results of my pap smear? It takes 3-4 weeks to get results from a pap smear. You will get a card in the mail from us within 4-5 weeks from your visit, telling you that your results were normal. If you don’t get a card within 5 weeks, please don’t assume that everything was normal. Call the office to make sure. I just started taking birth control pills and I’m having some spotting in the middle of my cycle. Does that mean that my pills are not working? It is normal to have spotting when you start the pills. This does not mean that the pills are not working, it is just your body getting used to the pills. Usually the spotting will stop the second month you’re on the pills. If it doesn’t, you should let your doctor know. You might want to try a different kind of birth control pill. I want to use birth control, but I can’t remember to take a pill every day. Are there other choices? The most popular other choices are the patch, the ring and the shot. The patch, Ortho Evra, is a skin patch that you change once a week. The ring, NuvaRing, is a small plastic ring that you put in your vagina and leave for three weeks. You remove it for the fourth week and that’s when you get your period. The shot, Depo Provera, is an injection you get in the office every three months. If you’ve had a baby before and are in a monogamous relationship you could get an IUD, a small device that is placed in your uterus and stays there for up to five years. All of these forms of birth control are as effective of the pill. Your doctor will help you decide which one is right for you. I’ve been told that I have fibroids. Could this turn into cancer? Fibroids are very common growths that many women develop in their uterus. They are not cancerous. They can cause heavy bleeding or pelvic pain, but most women don’t even know they have them. They grow during a woman’s reproductive years and usually shrink when she goes into menopause. Symptoms caused by fibroids can be controlled with medications such as oral contraceptives or anti-inflammatory medications. Sometimes we give medication that will shrink the fibroids for a short period of time. Sometimes a radiologist will perform a uterine artery embolization, and clot off the blood vessels that feed the uterus and fibroids. This will shrink the fibroids, but may cause pain. If the symptoms cannot be controlled by medication, we may recommend removing the fibroids or removing the uterus if you don’t plan on having any more children. My last pap smear was abnormal. What causes abnormal pap smears? Most abnormalities on pap smears are caused by the human papilloma virus, or HPV. This is sexually transmitted. It is very common, half of all women who are sexually active have the virus at some point in their lives. Different strains of the virus cause genital warts or precancerous changes. If you have a precancerous change on your cervix, you will probably have a colposcopy done. This is an office procedure where we look at your cervix with a microscope to see if any areas look abnormal. If we see abnormalities we will do a biopsy (take a small piece of tissue). The pathologist then confirms that there is an abnormality. Frequently your body will heal itself, and we keep a close eye on your pap smear until you have had several normal paps in a row. Sometimes we will need to do a LEEP procedure, which is done in the hospital. This removes the area that is prone to cancerous changes. After a LEEP procedure you will need to have frequent pap smears for about two years. |
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Dundalk ● Baltimore ● Catonsville | Tel. 410-633-6300 | info@hoffmanobgyn.com |
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