WELL WOMAN EXAM
A well-woman exam is a key component of a woman’s preventive care. It assesses your overall health, evaluates your risks, and checks for signs of complications. In two offices in Chandler, Arizona, Dr. Richard Le and the Fountains Family Care team are highly experienced in women’s health and providing well-woman exams, including pap smears, to get you the quality care you deserve. Stay proactive with your reproductive health.
Your well-woman exam usually involves a physical exam where your Fountains doctor examines some of the following:
- Nose
- Mouth
- Weight
- Breasts
- Reflexes
- Thyroid gland
- Blood pressure
You might have a urine test to check for infection, if necessary.
A key part of your well-woman care is your clinical breast exam, where your Fountains doctor checks your breasts for lumps or abnormalities. Your pelvic exam likely follows, where your doctor assesses your external sexual organs and gently inserts a special instrument called a speculum into your vagina to view your cervix and check for abnormal signs. A pap test can also be included in your well woman care. In this test, your doctor scrapes your cervix with a tiny instrument to take a sample of your cells to be checked for abnormalities. A pap test is used to check for cervical cancer.
A well-woman exam is an important part of your preventive care for many reasons. Some sexually transmitted diseases can go unnoticed and don’t have any symptoms, so your well woman exam is the only way for you and your doctor to detect them. Your well-woman exam allows your doctor to check for signs of cancer with advanced and reliable screenings that are designed to catch cancer early, when it’s more treatable. They can also help your doctor monitor how well your contraception is working for you.
The American Cancer Society recommends that women over the age of 45 with an average risk of breast cancer also receive mammograms every two years. Women with a higher risk might require earlier and more frequent testing.
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