Hearing that you have an abnormal Pap smear may seem scary, as may learning that you have HPV, but it's important to know that most of the time neither diagnosis will turn out to be a big deal. HPV is ubiquitous. Up to 80 percent of women will be infected at some point during their lives, and only a tiny percentage will ever see any lasting consequences of the infection. As for abnormal Pap smears, they're described as "pre-cancerous," but that doesn't mean they're necessarily going to become malignant. Even high grade cervical lesions can heal on their own, sometimes, and those that don't are almost always easily and effectively treated with good follow-up. Furthermore, sometimes that follow up requires nothing more than coming back in six months or a year for another Pap.

All of which is to say that if you've recently gotten a call about an abnormal Pap smear or an HPV infection... Don't Panic! Do your reading, make certain to get to your follow-up appointments, and the odds are that everything will be just fine.

• Understanding an Abnormal Pap Smear
• HPV 101

1. If you haven't asked your doctor for STD testing, it's probably not part of your standard health care routine
2. The only way to know whether you have an STD is to be screened - and screened on a regular basis, if your partners change.
3. You can have an STD without having any symptoms for years, or even decades.
4. STDs, including herpes, can be transmitted even when a person doesn't have any symptoms.
5. STDs can also be spread through oral sex - not just intercourse.
6. You can make just about any kind of sex safer, if not 100 percent risk free.
7. If you have been in a relationship for a while, and you suddenly start showing STD symptoms, it doesn't necessarily mean your partner has cheated on you.
8. There is no way to tell if someone has an STD just by looking at them. You can't even tell if you have an STD without getting tested.
9. Men don't have to be the ones to buy the condoms.
10. STD tests aren't perfect, so it's always a good idea to make smart, conservative choices about safe sex.

Oh, and one last thing. Don't let worries about STDs make you miserable. Safe sex can be hot sex. In fact, it can be even hotter sex than unprotected sex, since you know you're making an active choice to get in bed and have fun.

We're coming to the end of STD awareness month, and that's the perfect time to talk about the fact that STDs don't always have to be a bad thing. This wonderful article on the "perks" of genital herpes shares one woman's story about how being diagnosed with herpes helped her start placing more value on her health and her body. It's a great look at how something that at first may seem like a curse can actually be a blessing in disguise. Having to talk to your partners about sexual risk before you have sex isn't actually a bad thing. It may be scary, but it's actually a great way of figuring out whether that person is someone you really want to sleep with or if you're just going along for the ride.

April Content Round Up:

• I just found out I may have an STD. What should I do now?
  In the spirit of STD awareness month, here's a bit of advice for people who have recently been diagnosed with an STD.
• Cisgendered
  This article, in contrast, is more about adjusting out language and expectations. How we talk about things matters, and that's why cisgendered is a word that everyone should know.

As part of a study known as Project LINK, researchers from Brown University have been trying to answer the question, "If we manage to make a functional microbicide, will people actually use it?" The answer, perhaps unsurprisingly, seems to be that it may depend on the microbicide.

Microbicides are often formulated as sexual lubricants, which means that, like condoms, microbicide use has a direct impact on the sexual experience. Therefore, it's important for scientists to formulate products that add to the pleasure of sex - or at least don't make it any less enjoyable. The good news is that it looks like that can be done -- Project LINK has been showing that women have noticeably different experiences using different gel formulations. The bad news is that what works for one woman won't necessarily work for another.

It will be interesting how this research plays out when, and if, a functional microbicide is released in the marketplace. Will manufacturers try for a single option that they hope will please the maximum number of people? Or will they try to make a number of different formulations to maximize their market share by maximizing the opportunities for pleasure?

• What is a microbicide?