Outpatients colposcopy

About our service

Regular Colposcopy clinics run throughout the week and during your visit you may be seen by our experienced Consultant Colposcopists or Nurse Colposcopists. We also have regular nurse led cytology clinics which you may be referred to if you are unable to have your cervical screening in primary care. The colposcopy service also performs vulvoscopy examinations to investigate and manage benign and malignant or pre-malignant vulva changes.

Before your visit

You may be sent appointment for an examination called colposcopy because your cervical screening (smear) has most likely detected the presence of high risk HPV (a very common wart virus that can cause pre-cancerous changes and cervical cancer) and possibly abnormal cells.

Alternatively, you may have been referred if you have had a number of inadequate results from your cervical screening.

Colposcopy may also be needed if your GP or a clinician has concerns about the appearance of your cervix or symptoms.

You also may be referred if your post treatment cervical screening (smear), usually 6 months after treating abnormal cells, has shown the presence of high risk HPV. A colposcopy will help in deciding if you can be safely discharged back to your GP.

An abnormal test is not unusual; it happens in one in twenty tests. An abnormal result usually means that changes have been found in the cells on the neck of the womb (cervix). It is important to remember that it is very rare indeed for these abnormalities to be cancer.

To decide whether you need treatment a colposcopy examination will be carried out to investigate the cervix in detail. It is important that these changes are checked now, in case they become more serious in the future.

Colposcopy is a method of using a magnifying instrument to take a closer look at the neck of the womb while using some dyes to identify any abnormal areas that may have given you the abnormal smear. Usually, dilute vinegar solution and iodine are used for the test, if you are allergic to any of these please mention this before the examination.

It is simple, quick and generally painless and allows the doctor or nurse colposcopist to decide if you need treatment and decide follow up arrangements to monitor any abnormal change on the neck of your womb.

However, if any abnormal area is seen, the examiner may have to take a small piece of skin which gets sent to the laboratory for further analysis. This is called a biopsy.

During your visit

The colposcopy nurse will help you to position yourself on a special type of couch.

After this the doctor or nurse colposcopist will look at your cervix using a colposcope which is a magnifying lens with a bright light. It looks like a large pair of binoculars on a stand. It does not touch you or go inside you.

The examination usually lasts ten minutes and may involve taking a small biopsy or another smear.

If everything appears okay, then you will be told about it at the end of the examination. However, if you have had a biopsy, you will have to wait for the results of this test which may take up to eight weeks. Any further treatment will depend on the result.

After your visit

If you have had a simple Colposcopy without a biopsy being taken, you can resume normal activity soon after. You may get a brownish discharge for a couple of days from the iodine used. If you have had to have a biopsy taken, then you will have a blood stained discharge for a few days. You should avoid all of the following for at least one week.

• Intercourse
• Using tampons
• Swimming

This is to allow the area to heal properly. There is no problem with you having a shower. You should also use your usual contraception until you hear about the biopsy results. This is because pregnancy can delay any further treatment that may be required.

If you have had treatment at your first visit, then you will be given specific instructions on the aftercare you need to follow, (please refer to the leaflet on loop diathermy excision).