What’s Included in a Female Executive Physical?

Physical Exams, or physicals, are an effective way to understand a woman’s current state of health. With it, patients can get information on possible diseases and conditions they may be at risk for. Regular physicals such as the annual physical recommended to most patients allow a yearly recording of health to keep a better track of what’s going on in the body and how to deal with it.

Dr. Shawn Veiseh offers an examination called the female executive physical, which gives women a detailed look into their health. Dr. Veiseh’s executive physical offers:

Pap smears

This test for cervical cancer screening is important to assess any possible dangers of cancer and diagnose it early for treatment. The tests consist of getting tissue samples from the cervix, at the lower, narrow end of the uterus.

Generally, women between 21 to 65-years-old should get routine screenings, though after 30 women can consider getting the test every five years if they're still in good health.

Pelvic ultrasound

This is a noninvasive imaging test used to get visual information about the female reproductive area, including the uterus, cervix, vagina, fallopian tubes, and ovaries.

An ultrasonic transducer (a device that sends out waves of ultrasound) is placed on the skin and the waves it produces echoes off the organs and are converted by a computer to see the resulting images. It can be placed either on the abdomen or in the vagina.

Bone density tests

Osteoporosis, a condition where the density of bone weakens is common in older people, but overall women are at greater risk. It’s a condition that affects over 10 million Americans and has a lot more people at risk.

One in two women is likely to deal with bone breaks in their lifetime due to this condition so bone density tests are essential to keeping track and maintaining proper bone density. Getting these tests will help to monitor when the bone weakens, determine risks, and recommend treatment. There are a few different methods of examining the bone density in different parts of the body.

Venous ultrasound

This is another method that uses ultrasound, but in this case, it's to examine the veins of the body. Often it's used to check for blood clots in the lower body, especially for conditions like deep vein thrombosis.

In a similar fashion to how the pelvic ultrasound works the device used to perform the test is placed on the skin and it collects the information which is processed through a computer to produce an image for examining.

Breast cancer risk assessment

Another essential part of the executive physical includes consultation for breast cancer risk. Breast cancer is largely a condition with no symptoms at the start outside of small masses in the breast. This is why tests like mammograms are important to get.

Not all masses in the breasts are cancerous. But, getting them checked before masses become tumorous can be the difference between a mastectomy or cancer spreading and possibly becoming fatal.

The executive physical will provide you with a deeper understanding of your body, and how to improve or maintain your health. Interested in learning more? Make an appointment with Dr. Veiseh today to get started.