On the same occasion, Tria also explained the misunderstanding regarding the pap smear. It turns out that quite a few patients think that the pap smear is a means to cleanse the reproductive organs, even to treat vaginal discharge.
“That’s what people tend to misunderstand. People say Pap smears are a form of cleaning. So sometimes they come to our practice, ‘Ouch, there’s a lot of vaginal discharge. We want the Pap smears to be clean.” ‘. That’s what tends to be misled,” Tria said.
Tria said the cervical cancer journey is quite a long one. So having a pap smear every year can be a form of early diagnosis. The HPV virus detected earlier can certainly speed up the treatment and does not need to spread in the patient’s uterus.
“A woman is healthy and then infected with the HPV virus, until it becomes cervical cancer, the disease course is actually long. From three to 17 years old and 80 percent of the HPV virus is transmitted through sexual intercourse” Tria said.
“That’s why every sexually active woman is still at risk for cervical cancer.”
