Experts recommend starting pap smears at the age of 21 or within three years of becoming sexually active--whichever is sooner. Around 55 million pap smears are done each year in the United States and about 3.5 million of these come back with abnormal results.
Having an abnormal pap smear does not automatically mean you have cervical cancer. There are many reasons for a pap smear to come back abnormal. Some of these are: yeast infections, contact with HPV (human papillomavirus), the herpes virus or any other infection.
