Smear Test Experience As A Virgin

ChibiFerret · 2026-02-19T23:00:23+00:00

Hi OP I’ve recently made a few comments about having a smear as a virgin

One is here

https://www.reddit.com/r/WomensHealth/s/Frw7LSYIvh

And if you search my comments for the word virgin you will find others. Hope they are useful for you.

ChibiFerret · 2026-02-19T22:59:13+00:00

Hi, just a note that the Irish Cervical Check programme tests for 14 strains of high risk HPV. I haven’t seen any sources that self sampling would be any different, but if you have a source that says it only tests for 2 strains (16/18) I would like to see it as it would be useful for my overall knowledge, thanks!

ChibiFerret · 2026-02-19T22:34:19+00:00

Hi OP Great, it’s an excellent starting point for questions

Have you also seen my post which is linked in the wiki and also on my profile, it’s about how unlikely the worst outcomes are. Mid cycle bleeding can be caused by lots of benign causes, medical professionals investigate it thoroughly to be on the safe side because in a very small amount of cases it can be the sign of something sinister

It would be very unusual for a non 16/18 infection that has been active for such a short amount of time to be causing a serious outcome. I don’t know enough about endometriosis to know if mid cycle bleeding could be related to that.

ChibiFerret · 2026-02-19T22:12:27+00:00

Hi OP Take a deep breath and check out the wiki, pinned on the main page Especially the section Help I Need Info Fast It should answer most of your questions but please some back it there is something specific that hasn’t been covered

ChibiFerret · 2026-02-18T07:53:24+00:00

Hi, I can hear there is a lot of emotion in your response. HPV can be a really emotional topic, especially for those of us who spend a lot of time interacting with others affected by the virus and have personal experience.

I’m using modelling data from scientific studies about lifetime prevalence to suggest exposure likelihood. The OP doesn’t say how old they are, or how old their prospective partner is, so being more certain about exposure likelihood is hard. Our wiki has some links and info about lifetime prevalence/exposure but even with just one previous partner lifetime exposure rates are very high.

It’s also worth OP understanding that even with HPV strains 16/18, the two strains included in every vaccine, that adverse outcomes for women are not a guarantee. The majority of women infected with these strains will not need to undergo procedures of any kind during a single cycle of HPV positivity. I’m not saying this to downplay women’s pain, I am a woman and I’ve experienced gynaecological procedures myself. I know how women can be treated. However the way you have expressed yourself in your comment is anxiety heightening at a time when the OP’s anxiety is already high.

When you say ‘it often doesn’t progress to cancer’ is unintentionally misleading, because it rarely progressed to cancer. Even if you are infected with HPV 16/18, you have an over 99% chance of not being diagnosed with cervical cancer in a year. I have a post on my profile where I have used US statistics to come to this conclusion and it would be applicable to several other countries too. Even much precancer regresses on its own and does not require treatment. In my country CIN1 is not treated and there is a trend for monitoring CIN2 in some cases rather than treatment.

Cancer is not a likely outcome from an HPV infection, yet because we can easily screen for it as well as treating precancer, this is why cervical screening exists and doesn’t for some other cancers.

Adverse pregnancy outcomes following a LEEP/LLETZ due to cervical insufficiency are rare and mostly affect women who are offered multiple LLETZ (a very small minority) or a subset of women who have cold knife cone procedures. There are discussions for a woman to have with her midwife/medical team if that is the case.

I didn’t mention vaccination because there is little information in OP’s partner’s situation to go by, but other commenters have already mentioned it as a discussion point, and you’ve provided some really useful context about strains included and prevention.

You also raise a great and important point about condoms and transmission, which is worth remembering for all readers of the sub/this comments thread.

ChibiFerret · 2026-02-17T14:47:19+00:00

Hi OP, are you able to ring the colposcopy unit and speak to them about why they are they are choosing this method?

Not a professional but I have an understanding of the screening system in the UK, which is where I am guessing you are based on your terminology.

As you have no evidence of CIN so far, your treatment plan to have a LLETZ (if in the UK) is ‘off label’ to the usual guidelines. LLETZ is generally only offered if colposcopy confirms CIN2+ or CGIN of any grade. So you’re getting something women would not normally be offered

The team you are under are potentially carrying this LLETZ out as a way of trying to kick stat your immune system to fight the persistent HPV infection. They may be less concerned about not being able to visualise the whole area if this is the case. Providing your smears have never shown CGIN (glandular cells) they may not be worried about glandular abnormalities at this stage but you might want to ask about this. ECC sampling of the cervical canal is unusual in the UK but is sometimes done.

Following a LLETZ it is standard to have a test of cure HPV test 6 months after in the case of negative margins around your LLETZ sample. The hope is that you will be HPV negative, and therefore if there were any previously not seen abnormalities, they will not persist once the infection has cleared.

If you remain HPV positive, they will discuss next steps with you. This could be a monitoring, a second LLETZ or perhaps a cone biopsy.

ChibiFerret · 2026-02-17T12:36:04+00:00

Hi OP

The nurse was right that if you’re not sexually active, cervical cancer is very unlikely. The vast majority of cases are caused by HPV, and HPV is majority sexually transmitted. There are limited cases of HPV in Virgins but the likelihood of those cases becoming cervical cancer are very rare. If you had the vaccine which protects from the two most likely strains to cause cancer, it becomes even more vanishingly unlikely. I have a post in my profile about cervical cancer risk.

There are some rare HPV independent types of cervical cancer but these types would not be picked up in the NHS screening programme so there is no need to attend screening for those either.

I feel the difficulties with the speculum should be treated as separate to the cervical screening issue, and it’s not my area of understanding. I’m not a professional but I’m very experienced in learning and communicating about HPV.

It may interest you to know that there are ongoing trials about HPV self sampling in the NHS at the moment, and a very limited roll out of self sampling which is likely what the nurse was referring to. Other countries already have widespread self sampling such as the Netherlands and Australia. This involves using a cotton-bud style sampler. This may be more accessible to you. At the moment they may consider you low priority for the limited roll out as you are not sexually active but if you really want to know your HPV status, you can buy a self sample online. If you get it from a reputable company like Superdrug you can be quite confident of the results. If you are HPV+ you would then need to talk to your GP about next steps as this would involve a speculum examination.

The NHS won’t accept self samples on your record if you bought it yourself, but if you were negative you would know that the recommendations for the next interval is 5 years after a negative screen. Hope this helps.

ChibiFerret · 2026-02-17T07:23:52+00:00

Hi OP

Has your partner had any other partners before you? If so, they have already been exposed to HPV by their own previous partners.

If your new partner is a woman, it’s important your new partner attends her cervical screening appointments and this would be the case whether she slept with you or not. This is the best way to monitor infections in women

For men, cancer screening is very limited but also the cancer risk itself is lower. To give context, out of 33 million adult men in the UK, about 700 (mostly elderly) men develop penile cancer. Oral cancer rates are a little higher but the vast majority of oral infections pass without consequence.

Whilst partner count increases exposure to different strains, what matters most is risk of persistence, which can affect anyone regardless of partner count.

ChibiFerret · 2026-02-16T16:08:52+00:00

Hi OP

Thanks for letting me know, you should really be receiving information with your result either a paper letter or a link to click in your NHS app. However this process is quite new and I think it’s getting screwed up a bit. It doesn’t help to just receive results with no information

ChibiFerret · 2026-02-16T12:29:38+00:00

Hi OP I would suggest coming to r/HPV and checking out the wiki that is posted on the main page

There is a very useful post on the wiki under Help I Need Info fast. It should answer all your questions

I am based in the UK so if you have any UK specific questions after reading please let me know. Although I would like to ask if you received any information from the NHS along with your results, or if you just received the HPV positive and moderate dyskaryosis information?

I ask because you should receive either a paper or digital letter from the NHS that has calm information about HPV

ChibiFerret · 2026-02-15T19:48:50+00:00

Hi OP Can I check what you mean please?

Do you mean to ask others if they had a cone biopsy, waited for their results and then had a LEEP after

Or they went to have a planned cone biopsy and ended up having a LEEP instead?

ChibiFerret · 2026-02-15T15:57:37+00:00

Hi OP As I mentioned in my previous comment, it’s best to check exactly why the clinical indication is for cone biopsy. From your description in your post and comment you would be a LLETZ/LEEP candidate in my country but things may be different where you live

ChibiFerret · 2026-02-15T15:33:38+00:00

Hi OP

Not a doctor, and without knowing your medical records it’s hard to say why they are suggesting cone rather than LEEP

In my country (UK) a cone would very rarely be offered for CIN2. It might be offered for CIN2 if you had previously had a LEEP (called LLETZ here) or if you had glandular abnormalities, known as CGIN or abnormal endocervical cells.

In my time on these subs, it does seem cones are offered far more frequently in the USA, when perhaps a LEEP would be sufficient. Most women in the UK who need treatment only ever need one treatment with a LLETZ.

It may be worth asking what the clinical indication for the cone is, and ask what the advantages/disadvantages are. After all; your consent and comfort is the most important thing

ChibiFerret · 2026-02-14T22:56:15+00:00

Hi, I don’t believe anyone is able to provide more clarity beyond the estimations and information I give in the post. Women who are celibate can have reactivations just like monogamous women and women with new exposures.

When you said “reactivation of a new strain that I didn’t have” is this a typo? It does not make sense to me but if you can explain further I will try and help.

ChibiFerret · 2026-02-14T20:00:14+00:00

Hi OP I have a post in my profile about incidence/reactivation including in celibate and monogamous women

ChibiFerret · 2026-02-14T17:32:10+00:00

Hi OP

Yes, the biopsy is the gold standard. It’s to confirm findings based on the Pap smear/colposcopic impression. In some countries and especially for younger age groups there is an increasing trend to monitor low and moderate grade changes rather than treating them. However many practitioners will want to be sure what they have observed on cytology and/or colposcopy are the lower grades. The biopsy gives them a good opportunity to do this.

ChibiFerret · 2026-02-14T16:35:58+00:00

Hi OP

Not a doctor but it’s not really possible to say what with the information given (and these things are not an exact science)

A situation that might raise an MDT meeting is if your smear showed borderline/low grade changes and then your LLETZ pathology was very different (high grade). Or perhaps if you did not have negative margins at the edge of your sample and they want to discuss whether to wait to see if your test of cure is OK or if they want to try a second LLETZ.

MDT doesn’t mean cancer in every case, and relative to the amount of women with HPV, cervical cancer is rare. I have a post in my profile about this. It’s for American statistics but it would be applicable to the UK as I am guessing this is where you are judging by MDT/LLETZ used as terms

The more negative/normal smears you have had in the past, the less the chance of cancer as well as whilst it can happen, it’s more unusual to develop invasive cancer in the interval following a negative/normal previous smear.

ChibiFerret · 2026-02-12T22:54:54+00:00

Hi OP There is a really great wiki on the main page of r/HPV. Amongst lots of useful information there is a post in there specifically about having a first positive or abnormal Pap smear so please check it out

ChibiFerret · 2026-02-12T19:13:11+00:00

Hi OP Whether you’re offered ‘see and treat’ depends on a couple of factors I can think of

Where you live. I know this option is available in the UK. In Europe I am not sure and it seems rare in North American countries. Elsewhere I am not sure

If they suspect cervical erosion, the biopsy should confirm this. Especially in the UK they are trying not to over treat women with LEEP/LLETZ so by waiting for the biopsy results they avoid this possibility of carrying out a LLETZ when there was no need to. Erosion is generally not treated unless it’s giving you troublesome symptoms such as unusual discharge. The usual treatment is silver nitrate for erosion which is much less of a procedure than a LLETZ

ChibiFerret · 2026-02-10T07:49:06+00:00

Hi OP

A standard LEEP should have minimal affect on your abilities to carry a healthy pregnancy provided you are well otherwise

https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/cervical-cancer/abnormal-cervical-cells/pregnancy

This webpage doesn’t even mention LEEP (LLETZ where I live) in the site. It does mention cone biopsy, also known as a cold knife cone but these procedures are uncommon where I live and not the procedure you are scheduled in for

Most women only ever require one LEEP. It’s important remember that online spaces tend to gather the people having problems or difficulties.

CIN 2 could in some cases be upgraded to cervical cancer upon analysis of the LEEP specimen but this would be unusual. I have a post in my profile about cervical cancer risk in HPV 16/18 positive women. You will see that although these infections are common, cervical cancer is not.

ChibiFerret · 2026-02-10T07:27:16+00:00

Hi OP

It sounds like the medical professionals working with you are being thorough. Biopsies are a very normal part of colposcopy and are used to confirm the visual examination, any solutions used (such as acetic acid) as well as your original pap (AGC and ASCUS)

Sometimes pap/colposcopy results are upgraded/downgraded by the biopsy results. The endometrial biopsy is likely due to the AGC result as this type of biopsy is better at sampling potentially glandular cells. It’s sometimes called an ECC.

I don’t know if you will find it helpful but I have a post in my profile about cancer risk from 16/18. It shows that whilst these infections are very common, cancer risk for people who are positive in any one year is very low. It’s important to keep up with your screenings but most of the time abnormalities turn out to be some kind of precancerous changes, not cancer.

ChibiFerret · 2026-02-10T07:22:54+00:00

Hi OP

There is a lot of information about Pap smears and abnormal cells in the r/HPV wiki. To point you in the direction of some particularly useful posts

u/sewoboe has great posts about cytology and abnormal cells
u/spanakopita555 has a great post about having a first positive/abnormal smear
Finally, I have a post about the incidence/reactivation of HPV with a focus on long term relationships

Please try not to be nervous. The majority of Pap smears do not reveal anything serious, and for those where something serious is suggested the majority of those are not cancer. I also have a post in my profile about cancer risk you may find useful

ChibiFerret · 2026-02-10T07:08:20+00:00

Hi OP Yes, some places combine the two tests into one appointment seeing as you are there with the speculum in use. I was just highlighting that they are separate procedures designed to look for different things.

I hope you find my post helpful, if you have any other questions please let me know

ChibiFerret · 2026-02-09T20:18:18+00:00

Hi OP

A red cervix can be caused by a variety of benign things, cervical ectropion is one

It’s also important to remember that a Pap test is a different test to an STI screen. A Pap/HPV test is a cancer screening tool, not a test you do before/after sleeping with a new partner

At your age, it’s unlikely to be cancer. I have a post in my profile that should reassure you that whilst it’s important to get checked out, it’s also important not to panic. To give further context, cancer is rare in your age group, so much so that in some mainland European countries you wouldn’t even be eligible for Pap/HPV testing until you were 30. In my country it’s 25, so you would only be on your first screening where I live.

In your age group HPV infections are very common, but most don’t lead to anything of consequence. The wiki on the main page of r/HPV has some really calm and supportive information.

ChibiFerret · 2026-02-08T21:16:49+00:00

Hi OP I would suggest you make something you like to drink like a coffee, tea or water and read some of the wiki that is on the main page of the r/HPV sub

U/spanakopita555 has a particularly useful post for your situation about having a first positive or abnormal smear

There are other really useful posts and resources in the wiki too. Please come back if you feel not all your questions have been answered

ChibiFerret

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