A Pap smear isn’t meant to determine whether you are pregnant or not.
If you are thinking about a Pap smear you should know that it is supposed to find the abnormal cell and indicate the presence of different kinds of cancer. So can a pap smear detect pregnancy?
Identification
After a Pap smear women also have a pelvic exam. During this the doctor may find that you are pregnant but this depends on the size of the uterus.
In the majority of the cases the pelvic exam can indicate a pregnancy after the 6th week of pregnancy or 4 weeks after conception.
Considerations
It is safe to have a Pap smear even during pregnancy. There is no evidence that tests of this kind could lead to miscarriage.
According to official information the Pap smear is a part of the routine prenatal testing and it doesn’t represent any threat to the fetus. Nonetheless if you think that you may be pregnant, you should let your doctor know before the exam.
Advice
When thinking about Pap smear during pregnancy you should know that such tests should be started within three years of the beginning of you sexual life or at the age of 21, whichever comes earlier.
Although it is possible for the test to find a pregnancy, women should never rely on it as a kind of pregnancy test.
In order to have a reliable result you should ask your doctor to make a urine test that will tell you for sure whether you are pregnant or not. You also have the possibility to have a blood test that is even more accurate that the urine test.
Now you know that you could have a Pap smear while being pregnant but you shouldn’t count on it as a kind of pregnancy test since it has a different purpose.
