I was 22 and my first one was done at my first OB appointment when I was pregnant with LilSnoopy. My doctor was like “this is your first pap? WHY!!!” I told him “I know, I know, I’m gonna do better from now on.”
And I have. I go every year.
Can’t really explain why I didn’t go before I was 22. Mostly laziness.
Pap (short for Papanicolau, the guy who discovered it) smears detect cervical cancer, almost unknown in virgins (they use nuns to back up this statisitic). So your 22 y/o friend shouldn’t be rushing out for one.
They’re not really recommended here in the under 20s either, as the rate of cervical cancer is so low in this age group and abnormal paps are usually because of non cancerous erosions.
But an annual general gyn overhaul and a chlamydia test is recommended for all sexually active women, of whatever age.
I got my first pap at 20, my second at 21, and if that’s all clear (awaiting the results as we speak) I get to wait for 2 years before the next one (I’m HPV negative, and in a monogamous relationship, so I’m low risk).
I have a cervical erosion that comes and goes, but is completely benign, so I was worried about that, but now I don’t have to.
Yeay!
I had my first one my junior year in college and it wasn’t a pleasant experience. I had gone to student health to get started on the pill and it was a requirement. I wasn’t sexually active or I would have gone earlier.
It wasn’t pleasant for several reasons. First off I’m up in the stirups when the door to the exam room opens. Turns out they were showing a doctor they were wanting to come work at the clinic around and didn’t see anything wrong with interrupting an exam to do so. Second, it took the NP forever to find my cervix and she committed a horrible ob-gyn (or any healthcare area) sin and uttered the phrase “Oh that is weird!” referring to its placement. That totally freaked me out and had me imagining that I could never have children until I started anatomy a couple of years later and realized she was probably talking about a normal variation (something my ob-gyn who is awesome confirmed).
In college, it always surprised me the number of my friends who were sexually active by had never been to the gynecologist to have a pap smear. It can be an uncomfortable procedure (made much better if you have a good doctor/NP/etc.) but it is definitely better than having cervical cancer which is so advanced that you have to have a exteneration (spelling?) where your uterus, ovaries, colon, and bladder are removed.
Then again, there was my friend who refused to go to a male ob-gyn because she was afraid he wouldn’t be able to control himself once he saw her. She is the same girl who thought everyone in the drugstore was trying to pick her up when we went to buy her a pregnancy test.
Ha. Thank you Irishgirl, I so couldn’t work out what pap stood for.
This summer, just before my 24th birthday.
Oh another question. Are stirrups usual for a smear there? I have never encountered stirrups after many smears and giving birth. I almost thought stirrups were a “made for T.V” thing.
I had my first pap smear at 16 and my second at 19. Unfortunately, that was my last complete exam. I have had severe panic attacks at every other attempt related to sexual trauma that happened when I was 14. Some things just seem to never heal (emotionally and psychologically, physically I’m fine). However, my doctor is very good and I’m not at risk. I just go in every year and try again.
calm kiwi: Every gyn exam I’ve been to since I was 16 involved stirrups.
Okay, so I’m not as bad as Thylacine, but I’m 20 and have never had one. What exactly is the usual definition of “sexually active”? Is it having sex on a somewhat regular basis? Just not being a virgin? Masturbating alot? I’m unclear on this. I do have friends telling me often that I really really really really need to go to the gyno because it’s all very very important… but I haven’t even had a checkup with a regular doctor since 2000, when I had to in order to go to college. I hate going to the doctor and I’m fairly certain I’d hate even more going to a doctor who’s exploring my crotch. I know it’s important, I’ll get around to is eventually I’m sure.
Both times I’ve gone in, stirrups were involved. I suppose it depends on the doctor in question, but I’m guessing they make access enough easier that they’re willing to put us through the indignity. I don’t think they’re really ever used for giving birth these days; from what I know (which is purely theoretical) I’d find another doc if I ran into one who did!
To think men complain about prostate exams. :rolleyes:
I would define it as having sex on a somewhat regular basis with another person. Not masturbation. Did you read the link in the OP?
No, I didn’t read the link. Heh. Reading it now. So since I have had sex in the past, but never on a regular basis and not for quite awhile, this means I can put off that whole doctor thing a leetle longer, right? 
(I know, not funny, this is my health we’re talking about here, but… I really really hate doctors.)