Well Woman Exam and
Contraception Specialist
Women have unique health needs. Therefore, Maiden Lane Medical is skilled in offering women the most comprehensive array of women’s health services.
We offer well-woman exams, health screenings, and contraception counseling and treatment to help women throughout New York City take control of their health and wellness at every stage of life. Call our practice or schedule an appointment online today to get the quality care you’ve been looking for!
STEPHANIE L.
What is a Well-Woman Exam?
While a lot of doctor appointments take place when you’re sick or experiencing symptoms, the team at Maiden Lane Medical offers well-woman exams when you’re feeling just fine. They’re a vitally important part of preventive care.
The visits enable you to be proactive in managing your health at every stage of life. Having well-woman visits is one of the best ways to look for early signs of disease and ensure you’re getting the best care for optimal health at any age.
What Should I Expect at a Well-Woman Visit?
Well-woman visits begin with a personal and family health history to identify possible risk factors for diseases. Your doctor will also ask about medications you may be taking, including over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, and supplements.
A clinical team member measures your weight and blood pressure, and your doctor assesses your general health. You may also have a clinical breast exam and a pelvic exam with a Pap test and HPV testing.
Sometimes, your doctor will order a urine sample or blood test. The visit is an ideal time to discuss contraception needs or to ask questions about menopause or other health-related issues. You should have well-woman exams annually to provide an ongoing record of care.
How Long Does a Well-Woman Exam Take?
You can expect to spend 15 to 30 minutes with the clinical staff at Maiden Lane Medical while you have your well-woman exam. The physical part of the exam should only take about 5 to 10 minutes, but time will also be needed to review your medical history and discuss any new concerns with your doctor.
Your well-woman visit is an excellent opportunity to ask questions about contraception, family planning, menopause, abnormal periods, or any other women’s health concerns.
When Should a Young Woman Have Her First Well-Woman Visit?
You should begin to have pelvic exams annually when you become sexually active or between 18 and 21 years old, whichever is first. You should also have your first pap smear at age 21, regardless of age at first intercourse.
However, young women can start having well-woman visits in adolescence. Having visits at a younger age helps young women build their relationship with a gynecologist. They can also ask questions they might be embarrassed to ask their parents and get accurate information.
Have more questions?
How Often Should You Have a Well-Woman Exam?
You should have a well-woman once a year. However, you might not need to have a Pap smear every year. If you have a high risk of cervical cancer—for example, if you have a history of abnormal Pap results or cancer—your doctor might recommend an annual Pap smear.
If you have a low risk, women between the ages of 21 and 65 should have a Pap smear at least every three years. If you’re over the age of 30 with low risk and your previous pap smear was normal, it may be considered safe to wait up to 5 years between pap smears with HPV testing.
Our doctors at Maiden Lane Medical will review your medical history, health, and other risk factors and let you know how often they recommend you have this critical health screening.
Can You Get a Well-Woman Exam While on Your Period?
No, if you have your period, you should reschedule your well-woman exam. Having your period can interfere with your Pap smear results and your pelvic exam. Also, you should avoid sex, douching, or using vaginal creams in the 24 hours before your appointment.
What Are Some Common Women’s Health Issues?
In addition to issues like heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes, women are vulnerable to a variety of reproductive health issues, including:
Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS)
PCOS is a hormonal condition that causes cysts to form on your ovaries and abnormal or absent ovulation. You might also experience weight gain, hirsutism, and acne.
Endometriosis
Endometriosis occurs when endometrial tissue grows on organs outside of your uterus. It usually affects pelvic organs, including your ovaries, fallopian tubes, bladder, or bowel, but can develop anywhere in your body. Common signs of endometriosis include pelvic pain, painful sex, and severe menstrual cramping.
Fibroids
Fibroids are non-cancerous growths that form in or on your uterine walls. They can interfere with your fertility and cause pain and abnormal bleeding.
Menopause
As you approach and reach menopause, your hormone levels fluctuate and decline, which may lead to a variety of uncomfortable symptoms ranging from hot flashes and vaginal dryness to depression. Every woman experiences menopause differently, and our team at Maiden Lane Medical offers customized care to help you through this life transition.
Cystitis and UTIs
Women are also more vulnerable to urinary tract infections, including cystitis, than men because of the proximity of the openings of their urethra and anus and the length of the urethra in women is generally much shorter than in men. If you have painful urination or find blood in your urine, make an appointment right away.
What Are the Available Types of Contraception?
The team at Maiden Lane Medical offers more contraception options than ever to enable you to take control of your life, including pills, arm and uterine implants, diaphragms, condoms, and emergency contraception. The doctors offer comprehensive consultations to help you choose the best birth control option for your needs and lifestyle.
Contraception
How Can I Decide Which Type of Contraception is Best for Me?
Contraception is a very personal decision based on your lifestyle, your sexual activity, and your own personal preferences. Each type of birth control offers different advantages. During your visit, you’ll learn about all the different options so you can choose the form of birth control that works best for your needs and offers the most comfortable and convenient solution.
Oral Contraceptives
Disease Control During Well Woman Exam
A well-woman visit doesn’t necessarily include STD testing, but you can talk to your doctor and arrange to have STD screenings during your appointment. In most cases, STD tests involve blood tests, urinalysis, and vaginal swabs. Your results should be available within a week.
What Happens if I Have an STD?
If your screening identifies an STD, your doctor provides a treatment plan. In many cases, a prescription can clear your infection. However, some sexually transmitted diseases, like herpes and HIV/AIDS, don’t have a cure. With careful management, you can continue to lead a healthy and active life for many years.
If you are ready to be seen or have questions or concerns, feel free to book an appointment online today!
Emergency Contraception
Hi, this is Dr. Nikole Ostrov, a board-certified gynecologist in New York. I am here today to discuss birth control options. As gynecologists, we discuss birth control options with our young, reproductive-age women, and I think there are a lot of questions out there about what these options truly are.
So here it goes!
I think, in general, when I’m asking a patient: “Are you currently using birth control?” most automatically think that means a pill. Birth control pills certainly are still the most common form of birth control in this country, and for good reason. But there are other options out there as well.
Birth Control Methods
“it’s important to discuss your entire medical history.”
Why are you going to be starting birth control? Is it just for contraception or are you going to be using it for some of the non-contraceptive benefits:
- Acne
- Painful periods
- Diagnoses such as endometriosis
- Premenstrual symptoms
I’ll break down methods of birth control into patient-administered options (that you can give to yourself) versus those that we, as physicians or providers, can help you with by placing it in the office for you or giving it to you in the office.
Patient-Administered Options
Patient-administered, non-hormonal patient options include:
- A barrier method (which we all know as condoms).
- The “withdrawal method,” where the male will withdraw before he ejaculates into the vagina.
- The timing method (or what some women call the “rhythm method”), where you’re going by your menstrual calendar, trying to figure out when you may be the most fertile based on your menstrual cycle.
The timing, withdrawal, and even barrier methods are not the most reliable. They’re not the most effective birth control methods because of user error. Therefore, we encourage our patients—if this is their sole method of birth control—to consider other options.
It’s critical to know that there’s a much higher percentage of women who do get pregnant using these options. Our job is to counsel patients and give you other options that may be better for you.
Hormonal Contraceptives
I’ll break down the hormonal birth control options into patient-administered options (that you can give to yourself) versus those that we, as physicians or providers, can help you with by placing it in the office for you or giving it to you in the office.
Patient-administered options include:
- Birth control pills
- The ring (the vaginal ring)
- The patch
The pill most women have heard of before. It is one that you do have to be good at taking around the same time every single day, so:
- if you travel a lot
- if you’re more forgetful
- don’t think that you’ve been good at taking something every day
- don’t want to have to be having to take something every day
“Take one every day, you get a new pack every month, so you have to be good at taking it.”
The ring has the same types of hormones as the pill, which are estrogen and progesterone.
The ring is given in a different manner. So, instead of having to take something every day, it’s a pliable vaginal ring that you place up inside the vagina. It can’t get lost, and can’t go anywhere, and it stays in there for 3 weeks. During the week that you get your period, you take it out.
“3 weeks in, 1 week out, period.”
“3 weeks on, changing once a week, 1 week off, period. “
Those, for the most part, are estrogen and progesterone. They are much more effective than the other methods I first talked about.
There can be some user error, which may include forgetting:
- to replace the ring
- to change your patch
- to put the patch back on
- pills and having to double up
It certainly makes it less effective in the prevention of pregnancy and opens up a larger opportunity for unintended pregnancy.
But then we moved to some longer-acting forms of reversible contraceptives that are a little more efficient in the prevention of pregnancy because there’s much less user error.
Long-Acting Reversible Contraceptives (LARCs)
- Intrauterine devices (IUDs)
- Subdermal implants (the rods that go in your arm)
These are what we call a longer-acting form of reversible contraceptives. Your practitioner places them in the office, and they can stay there for years.
“The implant in the arm and most of the IUDs have progesterone in them.”
They do help with your periods as well, for the most part. They will get:
- a little lighter
- a little less crampy
- a little shorter
- sometimes they will go away altogether, which is okay when you’re on hormonal contraceptives
They can stay in anywhere between 3 to 6 years at this point (depending on which device we’re talking about). So, it’s almost like:
“Place it, Set it, and Forget it.”
You don’t have to worry about something every single day. And because user error is not a factor here, they are over 99% effective in prevention.
“An IUD can stay in for up to 10 years.”
There is another intrauterine device (IUD) that is non-hormonal—it’s the copper IUD. Here in the United States, it is called Paragard.
That one can stay in for up to 10 years. But again, patient history is really important here because if you already have heavy periods—very painful periods—I like to set up the right expectations with my patients that this one can make your periods a little bit worse—but not always.
Female Condom
Unlike the progesterone IUD and the hormonal IUDs, where periods usually get better, with the copper IUD, they can get a little heavier, a little longer, and a little crampier. So this is where history is really important.
Non-Contraceptive Benefits of Hormonal Contraceptives
“Talk with your doctor”
Talking with your physician or healthcare practitioner about why you’re starting this birth control method in the first place and what your goals are with this birth control is really important.
In-Office Administered Contraceptive: Depo-Provera
The last form of contraceptive that is going to be administered in the office by your physician is actually a shot called Depo-Provera (the brand name here in the US). It’s an injection that is given to you in either your arm or your buttocks region once every 3 months. Just like the hormonal IUD in your arm, it is progesterone only, and it’s given once every three months in the office.
You do have the convenience of not having to take something every day or change it yourself, but you would have to come into the office once every three months.
With this one, most of your periods will go away altogether. So, if you’re using it for the contraceptive benefit of helping your periods, you will certainly get that benefit.
Oral Contraceptives and Cancer Risk
Permanent Sterilization
Lastly, there is permanent sterilization—these are not meant to be reversed.
- Male permanent sterilization
- Female permanent sterilization
These are done with surgical procedures, and they are meant for the woman who is completely done with childbearing. So, if you’re unsure, then I highly recommend using one of the other options since there are so many others.
“Get sterilized only if you are sure about your decision”
Birth Control: How to Pick the Perfect Protection for You
There’s No Safe-Sex Flex Like Latex
Will Men Finally Be Forced to Do Their Share of Contraceptive Work?
Saying Goodbye to Birth Control? Here Are 8 Unexpected Side Effects of Quitting the Pill
Get the Help You Need Today!
These are the options. There are several benefits, health risks, and side effects that must be considered in the efforts to prevent pregnancy. So, it is important to discuss everything with your practitioner. These are great appointments where you can discuss any concerns you may have or ease any anxieties you might have about starting contraceptives.
At our Maiden Lane Medical offices in NYC, our dedicated team ensures confidentiality and provides personalized care tailored to your needs. For more information, be sure to contact us today!
Women's Health Specialists
Related Services
- Abnormal Pap
- Abnormal Periods
- Abnormal Uterine Bleeding
- Annual Gyn Exam
- Colposcopy
- Dense Breasts
- Dysmenorrhea
- Endometrial Polyps
- Fibroids
- Gynecology
- Hpv
- Mammogram FAQs
- Menopause Management
- Obgyn
- Ovarian Cysts
- Painful Sex
- Pelvic Pain
- Polycystic Ovary Syndrome
- Preparing for a Mammogram
- Uterine Prolapse
- Vaginal Infections
Don't know which doctor to choose? Let us help you.
STEPHANIE L.
Our doctors who provide this service
Emily Blanton, MD
Focused Practice Designation in Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgery
Janette Davison, MD
Focused Practice Designation in Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgery
Shah Giashuddin, MD
Kenneth A. Levey, MD MPH FACOG FACS
Focused Practice Designation in Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgery
Jennifer Zocca, MD
Disease Control and STD Testing at Our Walk-In Clinic
Our Walk-in Gynecology & Women’s Care clinic in Murray Hill, NY, offers comprehensive disease control services, including STD testing. You can easily arrange for STD screenings during your visit. The tests typically involve blood tests, urinalysis, and vaginal swabs, with results available within a week. Visit us today!