How to Prep Your Daughter for Her First Pap Smear

Pap smears play a critical role in helping women stay healthy. However, there’s no denying that if you’ve never had a Pap smear before, the process can seem a little intimidating. 

While the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG) recommends young women have their first gynecology visit between the ages of 13 and 15, these visits don’t involve a Pap smear, which means your daughter may still have plenty of questions about what to expect.

As a top-ranked women’s health practice in North Jersey, Feminine Urgicare wants women of all ages to feel comfortable with the well-woman care they receive. 

In this post, our team provides a few tips moms can use to help their daughters feel more confident and relaxed about their upcoming Pap smear.

Discuss the exam

For most of us, a lot of anxiety comes from not knowing what to expect. Explaining the pap test process in simple terms removes a lot of that anxiety and helps your daughter feel more at ease with her upcoming visit. 

For example, tell your daughter that the pap smear is part of a pelvic exam. 

First, she’ll change into a gown and remove her clothing from the waist down. Then, she’ll lie back on the exam table and place her feet in special stirrups.

Next, our team inserts a lubricated instrument called a speculum into her vaginal canal. The speculum helps gently widen the canal so the provider can access the cervix, or end of the uterus. 

Using a long-handled swab, our team swabs the surface of the cervix to collect a sample of cells. 

Finally, the speculum is removed, and the exam is over, all in a few minutes.

Explain its importance

Another way to dispel anxiety is to help your daughter understand why regular Pap smears are so important for her health. Pap smears play a pivotal role in detecting abnormal cell changes that can be associated with cervical cancer. 

Regular screening ensures those changes are discovered early, even before any noticeable changes occur. Furthermore, early detection supports early treatment and better outcomes. Emphasize that while the screening itself takes just a few moments, it can provide a lifetime of better health.

Offer some helpful tips

Offer some simple tips to make your daughter’s exam go as smoothly as possible. For instance, advise your daughter to schedule her visit for a time when she’s not having her period since menstruation could interfere with the screening results. 

Suggest she shower right before her appointment so she feels relaxed and comfortable during the exam, and recommend an outfit that’s easy to put on and take off. 

Tell her to avoid using a douche or applying any deodorants or creams to the area to prevent interfering with the lab results, too.

Ask about her specific concerns

Be sure to let your daughter voice her own concerns and “vent” about her anxieties. Sometimes, just talking things through can help your daughter feel more in control, especially when you validate her concerns and offer nonjudgmental, patient support.

Let your daughter know that while the exam might feel a little odd or unusual since she’s not used to it, it should never be painful. If she has discomfort, she should speak up and let our team know.

Discuss what happens next

Let your daughter know that after her exam, her cell sample will be evaluated in a lab setting, and the results will be shared with her in about a week or two. She should know that if her results are abnormal, it does not mean she has cancer. 

Many other issues can cause abnormal results, like yeast infections and hormonal fluctuations. 

If her results are abnormal, she’ll simply visit the office for another Pap smear at a different time during her cycle or another test, like blood work.

A lifetime of better health

The ACOG recommends regular Pap smears beginning at age 21. If it’s been a while since your last Pap smear or if your daughter is ready to take the first step toward a lifetime of better health, request an appointment online or over the phone with the team at Feminine Urgicare in Paramus and Clifton, New Jersey, today.