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If you’re an average patient that has no family history of colon cancer, has never had a significant history of polyps, you should start having your colonoscopies at the age of 50. If someone does not know their family history, for example, if they had been adopted or if they’ve been separated from their family for a prolonged period of time, then they would fall into the regular screening pattern for colonoscopies, which is starting at the age of 50. And once you have your colonoscopy, if you don’t have any polyps at that time, then you would get your next colonoscopy 10 years later. Now, if you have a significant family history of colon cancer, if you have a first degree relative such as a parent, an aunt, a brother, a sister, or any sibling, you would need to get your colonoscopy 10 years before the time that your sibling, the age at which your siblings were diagnosed. So it varies from patient to patient, but on an average basis, everyone should at at the latest get their first colonoscopy at the age of 50.
