From this year, the screening process for cervical cancer will change.
Under new guidelines, pap smears are being replaced with the less regular, but more accurate, Cervical Screening Test. The screening will start once women turn 25.
Just six months after Jessica Seaborn's last pap smear, she had developed pre-cancerous cells on her cervix that had advanced to dangerous levels and needed urgent surgery.
"I got the all-clear at a pap smear and they said come back in two years, but I ended up coming back after six months because I noticed these things about my body and I don't think I would have worried about it as much if I didn't have this kind of history," the 24-year-old said.
"I think it's important to be aware of what's happening with your body," she said.
Had she waited any longer, Ms Seaborn said, it's likely her pre-cancerous cells would not have been discovered until much later.
"The chances of an under 25-year-old having cancer or pre-cancerous cells are pretty low, but it's happened to me and I've had pre-cancerous cells now for five years."
Until now, screening has been recommended every two years from either the age of 18 or within two years of becoming sexually active.
But under the new guidelines, women will be advised to begin screening after they turn 25 - with tests every five years.
Dr Andrew Zuschmann from the National Association of Specialist Obstetricians and Gynaecologists said the changes are due to the successful Human Papilloma Virus vaccination program, which has eradicated most strains of the virus that lead to cervical cancer.
"The technology behind the soon to be old screening program is almost 100-years-old. We've learned a lot about pap smears and cervical cancer since that time," he said.
Only one in 100,000 women under the age of 25 develop cervical cancer.
But gynaecologist Dr Sean Burnett said that while the new program had many benefits, it could also mean some young women with abnormal cells go undiagnosed for longer.
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"While rates of cervical cancer under age 25 are very rare, that could mean that there are some patients who have the HPV virus active for up to 10 years before their first test."
In a statement, the federal health department said: "The HPV vaccination has already been shown to reduce cervical abnormalities among women younger than 25 years of age and... is ultimately expected to reduce cervical cancer in this age group."
But Ms Seaborn said early testing helped prevent her pre-cancerous cells from developing into something life threatening.
She is worried that testing for other young women will now be delayed by seven years.
"I wouldn't want to miss anything about my body or what's changing, so I would still want to have the tests done when I was a lot younger."
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