Performing a Pap smear... At home

I was wondering...

Has anyone performed a real pap smear at home, which means not only taking a sample, but also submitting it to a medical laboratory to check whether there is a problem?

There are several kits available on the net, like this one : http://www.selfpap.com.au/index.html but I could not find any information on how to submit it to a laboratory.

Several commercial home tests are available in Japan. Those tests can be bought for about 50 US$, which includes the analysis of the sample - the result being available on a secured server. But those are only available in Japan.

I would be really interested to be able to perform such test on my partner, even if I obviously know that this is not replacing a real medical check-up. Has anyone done that? And does anyone know a test that can be bought online and submitted to a laboratory in Europe (or US) to get the result?

Thanks for your input,

aasti

You could try Cytocheck who do Thin-Prep. If you are in the USA they may not deal with you unless you are a licensed professional however they seem to be less restrictive with customers outside the USA.

http://www.cytocheck.com/

I think you have your answer, anyway I find very interesting your intention of doing a real complete checkup on your partner including the pap smear which leads me to another question: maybe most of us in play exams would like to be able to perform or ask even more sophisticated complementary exams like blood and urine analysis, ECG, ecographies and so on... well maybe some of us will get with time (and money) more complete offices or clinics...

Thanks for your comment. Using a normal lab could be a good possibility, but you would then have to ensure that the sample you are sending will arrive in a good condition.

I was more hoping to find a kit that could be sent to a specific laboratory, but this might not be available.

aasti

Never thought of this

I perform real cervical smear tests (Pap smears) as part of my role play exams. I bought a testing kit from a medical suppliers and as such have all the equipment/supplies required, including the fixing solution to preserve the smear on the slide.

In all fairness taking a smear that will provide an accurate result is not as simple as many would believe. Whilst it is certainly not complicated it does require the right technique.

Therefore home testing might not be such a good idea, it could lead to a lot of people being given a false sense of security

There was some talk about having some home testing kits for pap smear to be used in rural areas but it wasn't approved by the FDA. The medical lobby is too powerful. Just think of how much money would be loss by the medical community if people could do pap smears at home. There was a sort of tampon that was being developed that would be inserted into the vagina and collect the cells and then placed in a vial of solution. I got chewed out one time by my wife's gynecologists because she accidently told him that I used a vaginal speculum on her. He wanted to know how I got hold of a speculum because he thought it was a medically restricted device. These are the same doctors who in the 1970's said that diet had no affect on our health. Medical lobby very powerful.

The pap smear whether taken by a professional or not is still sometimes missing the cancer cells so now we have moved on to making Thinprep as the gold standard. There was some research done that acetowhitening (swabbing the cervix with vinegar) was just as effective as the old fashion pap smear. Acetowhitening could be used in third world counties with minimal amount of training.

There are many tests available in other countries but they are not available here. Look here in Texas, you can't get a colonic. The Texas Attorney General shutdown all the places giving colonics. You have to go underground because a woman died in El Paso when she received a colonic so litigation was brought against the colonic industry with support from the powerful medical lobby. It is always about protecting the bottom line. There was also push by the powerful Texas medical lobby to make alternative medicine and herbs illegal. We have get petitions and we were able to defeat this bill. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to do a pap smear. You just follow some simple guidelines. But, even smears taken by professionals missing the cancer from time to time.