Jamie Otis opens up about having HPV: 'Don't let anyone make you feel 'dirty' or ashamed about it'
Jamie Otis is sending an important message to women: Get your annual Pap test.
On Tuesday, the Married at First Sight star, 36, filmed herself at the doctor's office before her annual Pap smear. In the video, she opened up to her followers about how getting the routine exam may have saved her life.
"Does it ever get easier with age???" Otis says in the video. "I don't know how many Paps I've had. It just never gets easier. But checking because I had, you know, HPV and abnormal Paps. So just getting my good old Pap done."
The reality star elaborated even further in the caption, opening up about how a positive HPV diagnosis may have prevented it from turning cancerous.
"I have the sexually transmitted infection, HPV," she wrote. "Last year I found out it turned into precancerous cells. I had a LEEP procedure to cut the abnormal cells out, but the thing about HPV is that it can come back and if you don't get your regular check ups to catch it, it can (& will) turn into cancer."
Otis said while she "never had any sign of having HPV," she learned of her diagnosis after "doctors kept finding abnormal cells on my Pap exams."
She went on to explain that she prioritized getting annual Pap smears because she was having fertility issues.
“If I hadn't been [trying to conceive] I prob would have never went to get checked bc everything seems 100% 'normal' down there," she explained. "Thank God for my babies! Because I wanted them I found out I had HPV & was able to treat it before it turned into full-blown cancer.
"I know getting your annual pap is so annoying and I swear it never gets easier to strip down and let a doctor investigate down there but it can truly be life saving," she continued. "Sooo, here's your friendly reminder that even if you think you're fine — go get your Pap just to be on the safe side. Don't keep putting it off."
Otis ended the post with a reminder about health to her followers.
"If you have an STI or STD, don't let anyone make you feel 'dirty' or ashamed about it," she wrote. "It happens to all of us."
Otis, who shares two children with her husband Doug Hehner, has used her platform to spread positive messages in the past.
In May, the star shared a series of videos on Instagram celebrating her "mom pouch."
"Mamas, we may be softer & squishier than we once were, but we are also stronger too," she wrote. "If you're feeling down, just tuck that mom pouch in, grab your babies (even if they're big now), and get out of the house! Life's too short to let a mom pouch stop us from realizing our STRENGTH."
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