Hello Sharon22 and thanks for posting, 

When HPV is present, cervical cell changes/abnormailites need to be assessed further, but that doesn't mean they are especially serious, they usually aren't. In the future there might be the possibility that some changes could develop into cancer but this is where cervical screening comes into the picture. Remember that the purpose of cervical screening is to prevent cervical cancer and while severe refers to changes seen in the cells from the smear sample, these aren't thought of as cancer and are only one peice in the assessment. The others are the colposcopy assessment and the biopsy.

I am not sure if the doctor said anything at the time of the colposcopy examination, but biopsies are routine and are taken to show the depth of any abnormal cells in the very thin lining covering the cervix.  Aside from dyskaryosis there is another way of describing these cell chanegs called CIN (cervical intraepithelial neoplasia). CIN measures the depth of the abnormal cells and classifies them from 1-3. A biopsy result is needed to be certain about CIN, but severe dyskaryosis often goes hand in hand with CIN3 although it can indicate CIN2 as well. The biopsy result will complete the picture so that the colposcopy team can decide what needs to be done next.

The idea of cervical screening is to pick up abnormal cells, assess them and when needed remove or destroy them so cancer doesn't develop in the future. It is possible that you might need to have some treatment, which I realise sounds serious and can be daunting, but it is usually a fairly minor procedure done in the clinic. However I think this is hard to predict at the moment. 

Understandably things like this can be worrying, I think  'not knowing' is often challenging with health matters. Ty and keep an open mind for now and wait to hear what the colposcopy clinic have to say.  

In case it might be useful, our website has some more information about cervical cell changes and the treatments that can be used for them at this link. 

Please give us a ring if you want to talk anything over.  The number to call is Freephone 0808 800 4040 and we are around weekdays, 9-5.

Best wishes,

Julia