On the heels of new guidelines recommending mammograms at a later age, some health experts are now telling women to cut back on their pap smears.

For years, women have been told to begin getting a pap smear no less than 3 years after they first have sex -- and to continue getting screened annually.

But now the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says women can cut back.

Doctors at Baystate Medical Center agree.

James Gebhardt is an OBGYN Physician at Baystate Medical Center. He says, "This has been some time coming. The studies have been trickling in over time and this has been something that was not at all unexpected."

The College of Obstetricians recommends that cervical cancer screenings begin at age 21.

And women between 21 and 29 only need to be screened once every two years.

Women ages 30 and up now only need to be screened once every 3 years as long as they've had 3 consecutive negative screening results.

Doctors say the main reason for abnormal pap smears is the Human Papilloma Virus which can cause cervical cancer.

Gebhardt says, "HPV is so slowly growing that if your normal now the odds of you having cancer within the next two years is next to zero so it's very safe to extend that screening interval, reducing your false positive rate but at the same time your still picking up every case."

Doctors add that cervical cancer rates have fallen 50% is the past 30 years, and women who get it were screened infrequently or not at all. Unlike breast cancer statistics.

Gebhardt says, "Breast cancer is still widely prevalent. There is a 1 out of 8 lifetime risk for breast cancer among women so almost everybody knows somebody who has had it or has died of it so it's a big deal."

Doctors say the bottom line is women should feel at ease as long as they're getting pap smears every few years.