Abnormal Cervix?

Mmmm... Cocks...

Someone I know/love just called me and said their doctor said she had some abnormal cervix results.
She was crying and has no idea what's going on because they only said she needs to make an appointment, which she did.

I am completely and 100% in the dark and have no idea what the fuck is going on and I'm going to be the shoulder to cry on tonight/ the voice of reason. I've been googling and still don't know what's going on.

All I could tell her before she got back to work was something along the lines of nothing was definite and something about catching things early.

The only word she tossed out was "cancer". I suppose that's the worst case scenario? She's still a teen, I can't see how that's already in the cards. What am I looking at here? I'll read anything I can before she gets home.

CBG Blender

Abnormal Pap Smear results can be indicative of HPV, a virus family that can lead to genital warts and has been linked to increased risk of cervical cancer. Other things can also cause abnormal results (recent sex, etc), so it could be something else. They'll discuss whatever the results were at her appointment. From what you've said, they just said that the results were "abnormal" which could mean any number of things. It's not necessarily anything dire.

cloudeagle

Here you go:

http://health.yahoo.com/cervicalcancer-symptoms/abnormal-pap-test-topic-overview/healthwise--hw27576.html

Cancer is the worst-case scenario, but it's much, MUCH more likely it's an infection of some sort or HPV, a sexually-transmitted disease that does absolutely nothing but increase your future risk of cancer. She shouldn't worry yet.

Dman

my guess is that she had an abnormal pap smear, which is fairly common, and the doctor wants to do another one.
Also, there is an STD, Human papimilloma virus (HPV), that increases the risk for cirvical cancer and is very common. It doesn't really manifest in guys (no symptoms) but we can spread it. It is possible she has that. It could be anything or nothing, but worse case is cervical cancer. Given her age it would be really unlikely.

Edit: wow i was double beated

Specularity

It sounds to me like she probably has some cervical dysplasia, abnormal (inflamed) cells on her cervix. This can be caused by HPV, two types of which can, very rarely, lead to cervical cancer. They're probably going to ask her to come back in for another pap smear or a colposcopy (not a colonoscopy) to do a biopsy on the cells to see if it even is HPV (other things can inflame cells on your cervix). If it is HPV, there is, the vast majority of the time, absolutely nothing to worry about; the body will clean it out of your system (though this is a bit of a topic for discussion; as it's a virus, we don't think it actually leaves the body, but if it goes dormant, it's not gonna come back).

75% (at least) of sexually active people will get HPV in their lifetime. She's totally normal and, while she should absolutely go in to get it checked out, doesn't need to worry.

http://www.vaginapagina.com/index.php?title=Human_Papillomavirus_%28HPV%29

Check out that link -- it has more information than you really need.


Edit: Oh, and I don't know what her stance is on vaccines, but Gardasil is the three-stage shot that protects against the two high-risk strains of HPV (there are about 100 different types) and also protects against two of the strains that most commonly cause genital warts. It is never too late to get this shot! Though it doesn't take care of any current strains, it protects against future exposure.

More edit: Continue regular pap smears!

witch_ie

Honestly, I think she needs to wait for the doctor to tell her specifically what that means and what can be done about it. It's too bad that they wouldn't give her any further details over the phone, but I think the best support you can give her is that worrying about it right now isn't going to make it any better - it's just going to make her miserable. Once she has the details, then she can worry about it.

Mmmm... Cocks...

Thanks gents - all good posts.
All good advice.

Feral

Okay, let's get a little perspective here, because I don't know how much you know.

Women get pap smears to check for abnormal cells in the cervix - basically, cells that might turn into cancer. (Pap smears can also show signs of a few other diseases, but cancer is the main reason you look for it.)

There are, basically, four stages: abnormal, precancerous, low-grade lesion, and high-grade lesion. (This is a little oversimplified.) "Abnormal" means "There's something weird but we don't know what it is." It does not mean she has cancer. Most abnormal pap smears are nothing, however a small minority can mean the first stages of cancer.

What it means is that they have to do a more sensitive test - usually a colposcopy, where they basically use a special formula to coat the cervix and look at it through a device called a colposcope. From that point, they may determine that it's a false alarm or they may have to remove some of the abnormal cells and send them to a lab for a biopsy.

In the small chance that it is precancerous, catching it early like this means the prognosis is very, very good. The word "cancer" is scary but cervical cancer is one of the least dangerous and most easily treated form of cancer. If it is precancerous, the specific treatment depends on where it is and how big it is and what kinds of cells they are.

The short version? There's no reason to freak out right now. They just need to run more tests.

Edit: bah, beated hardcore.