A woman has shared an intimate photo of her cervix in a bid to encourage women to get smear tests.
Twenty-eight-year-old Tracy Kiss had to get a biopsy after her smear test revealed abnormal cells, and so decided to mark Cervical Cancer Prevention Week by sharing a photo from her tests.
The mum-of-two from Buckinghamshire revealed on her blog that at first, she didn’t pay attention to changes in her body.
She wrote: “At the age of 28 I never would have thought that something like this could happen to me, I thought irregular bleeding, period cramps that linger and back ache was just a sign of getting old and having children but it’s not.
“You know in yourself when something isn’t right and when your body isn’t behaving as normal. A quick smear test could save your life and I’m incredibly thankful that I had mine.”
Image via tracykiss.com
Tracy’s biopsy classified some of her cells as CIN2, which is usually caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV).
She told the Mail Online:
“HPV is a common virus found in most women at one point in their life which can come and go and doesn’t require treatment.
“However if the body doesn’t expel the virus (just like cold and flu) it can cause abnormal cell growth in the cervix which is why girls are now being vaccinated for it at school. I never had the injection as it was after my school days.
“I have abnormal cells and HPV present which may have caused these pre-cancerous changes in my body that the NHS aims to remove to prevent the development of cervical cancer.”
Video via YouTube/TracyKiss
