At the end of 2025, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services endorsed an accessible Pap smear alternative, following similar guidance from the American Cancer Society.
The endorsement comes after years of studies that have shown vaginal swabs are equivalent to cervical smears when detecting the presence of HPV. The FDA approved the first at-home screening alternative in May 2025.
The new test was created by Teal Health. Teal Health CEO and co-founder Kara Egan said she was inspired to make preventive care more accessible and convenient for women.
“The company’s mission is to give women the ability to screen for cervical cancer from home with more comfort and the same effectiveness as an in-person, traditional Pap smear,” Egan said via email.
The screening kit involves self-collection, allowing women to swab the vagina with a tampon-like applicator, the Teal Wand™, with comfort and ease instead of the traditional Pap smear involving a speculum and a healthcare provider scraping cells from the cervix.
The Pap smear originated from testing on guinea pigs. Creator George Papanicolaou found in 1916 that reproductive cycles in the animals could be timed by examining smears of their vaginal secretions.
In 1920 he started focusing on screening for cancer in the human reproductive system and was able to discern the difference between normal and malignant cervical cells from swabs on microscopic slides.
Prior to its official classification in 1941, the leading cause of cancer-related deaths among U.S. women was cervical cancer.
Despite screenings preventing cervical cancer, over one in four women remain unscreened in the United States.
Teal Health’s goal is to break the barriers preventing women from receiving screenings such as discomfort, inconvenience, distance from clinics or prior trauma from traditional Pap smears.
“By designing a solution around women’s needs and anatomy, we are closing these gaps and ensuring that preventive care is accessible, private and empowering,” Egan said.
Additionally, the Teal Wand™ is more effective than a traditional Pap smear at detecting HPV, which is the cause of more than nine out of 10 cases of cervical cancer, according to the CDC. Almost all cervical cancer can be prevented by receiving the HPV vaccine.
The Teal Wand™ looks for HPV DNA, giving an earlier indication a woman has the kind they are looking for and allowing for a disease to be more likely detected and intervened around.
TogetHER for Health, a nonprofit organization, works to promote visibility around cervical cancer and HPV globally. Executive Director Heather White said getting kids vaccinated with the HPV vaccine early and screening women regularly throughout their lives up to age 65 can essentially eliminate the cause of cervical cancer.
“With political commitment and funding, this is something. We can literally do this together,” White said.
Self-screening brings women back into the healthcare system, White said. Women who have not been screened or are not interested in coming into the formal healthcare systems.
For women with anxiety surrounding clinical visits and speculum exams or for those with conditions such as vaginismus, a condition that causes the vagina to suddenly tighten up when you try to insert something into it, the at-home tests allow them to stay compliant with proper preventive care guidelines, Egan said.
“I don’t know any woman who isn’t excited about the idea of just simply doing a quick swab rather than a full gynecological exam,” White said. “It offers a lot more flexibility, convenience [and] privacy.”
For women in the age range 21-29 years old, the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force recommends Pap smears every three years and HPV screening for women 30-65 years old every five years.
For more information, visit Teal Health’s website and contact a medical provider for guidance regarding when to get screened or what kind of screening works for you.
Savana Capp is a hard beat reporter. Contact her at [email protected].
