A smear test can be an uncomfortable subject which can cause feelings of nervousness and anxiety for many women but they are nothing to be embarrassed about. According to the NHS, one in three women DO NOT attend a cervical screening due to fear of embarrassment. With these statistics in mind, in her latest video YouTube star Zoe Sugg provides a question and answer with a nurse before filming her own smear test.
The 29 year old vlogger shared her experience of her live smear test with her 16.8 million followers. Zoe did this by filming a three part ‘Smear Series’ on Instagram IGTV and a full 43 minute video on her YouTube channel. During the video she included a discussion with her nurse about the procedure before having the test, asking the questions most young women have asked. This important life saving test took 48 seconds!
Ahead of her smear, Zoe shared in the video introduction that she’d had a meeting with Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust, the UK’s leading cervical cancer charity. Zoe says, ‘It was a real eye opener. It was one of those meetings where I asked if there was anything I could do to help encourage women to book their smear tests, or make people feel a little bit more at ease when they got their letter, and I came up with the idea that I could actually film it.’
Watch the full video down below:
Zoe began her session by asking her nurse, Jenny, a few questions which she had collected from her Instagram followers prior to the appointment. These included topics such as the size of speculums to the HPV vaccination. Zoe also addressed the question of how smear tests happen, what age you will begin going and the question most people had asked, “Does it hurt?”. The nurse informs Zoe that when you hit 24.5 years, the NHS will send an invite to women in preparation for when they hit 25. They are then advised to call their doctors or health centre to make an appointment.
Following that, Zoe then films her own smear test which takes less than a minute. The nurse runs through the equipment used and what will happen during the test. Zoe then sits back down to discuss what happens after you have the procedure, how you get your results and what happens to your sample.
At the end of the video, Zoe and her co-workers have a quick discussion about the whole thing including their experiences. The money raised by Adsense will be donated to Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust.
For those who are unsure, you’re not alone. Cervical screening is simply the process of taking a sample of cells from your cervix for examination. Using a microscope, any changes or abnormalities in the cells that might develop into cancer in the future can be detected and can be removed and monitored through further treatment. For more information, or to book a smear test, visit nhs.uk.
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