Hello, and thanks for your post,

Many women contact us with questions about their pap test so you are not alone.   I don't think you need to be concerned although many women are unsettled in this sort of situation.

Cervical screening is not a test for cancer but a test to check the health of your cervix. 

The human papillomavirus (HPV) is a very common virus with the majority of the population affected at some point in their life.  It is passed from skin-to-skin sexual contact. It is the HPV virus that is responsible for causing changes in your cells. It is normally your own immunity that will clear the virus from your body but it can take a couple of years or in some cases a bit longer. It does help if you are not a smoker as this can make it harder to clear the virus from your body.

There are over 200 types of HPV. It is divided into low-risk and high-risk. It is the high-risk strain that is identified when someone goes for cervical screening. The charity Jo's Trust explains more about HPV here.

A small number of women have moderate or severe changes to the cells in their cervix. This is called high-grade dyskaryosis. These changes are also pre-cancerous in nature. The majority of cases do not lead to cancer in the future. A simple treatment may be all that is required for these cells of the cervix to return to normal. 

When you had the pap test they test for the HPV virus first and then if it is present they go on and check to see if you have changes in your cells. if anyone has changes in their cells they will be invited to go to a colposcopy clinic. At the colposcopy clinic, the colposcopist or doctor will be able to look at your cervix in much greater detail and they will then biopsy the area where the high-grade dyskaryosis was identified.

We have some information on our website about what to expect at a colposcopy clinic here

and we have more information about the treatments that you may have when you go to the colposcopy clinic.here

There is a lot of information to read here and if you would like to go through any of this with one of the helpline nurses then you are more than welcome to give us a ring. 

Our helpline number is Freephone 0808 800 4040 and we are here from Monday to Friday 9 am to 5 pm.

All the best,

Catherine