Love Island's Amy Hart has told her followers not to delay getting their smear tests, after she discovered she was HPV positive. Amy, 29, told her followers on Instagram, saying that she was told she had HPV last year, and is now being retested to check the cells aren't precancerous.
HPV is incredibly common, as Amy told her followers. 'I did my research and found that 80 per cent of men and women in their lifetimes will get HPV,' she said. 'It's a virus. It's quite normal apparently.'
'I had a smear last year. It came back with HPV,' Amy continued. 'They said come back in a year so I went back today. She said the results will be in two weeks. If HPV is there they'll look at my cells and do a biopsy on the cells so that's where I am at the moment.'
Amy also told her followers that while she finds smears uncomfortable, due to having a high cervix, she knows how 'important' it is to attend screenings and that they can save lives. 'Everyone else seems to breeze through them,' she said, 'so make sure you don't put it off!' (In 2016, it was reported that one in four women miss their smear tests. Common reasons include: it being uncomfortable for some and embarrassment.)
The reality star also said that she'd spoken about it with her boyfriend, Sam Rason. 'Like I say I tell Sam everything so then it's easier for him to be supportive,' she said. 'I mean not many boys have girlfriends who talk about their innards on national TV so he's pretty desensitised now.' (Amy has publicly spoken about why she made the decision to freeze her eggs - and has spoken about it with Grazia here{
If you want to know more about cervical cancer screenings, visit Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust.