The New Way to Screen for Cervical Cancer (No Stirrups Required)

In February, I was lying on the exam table at my annual, underwear tucked under my jeans on the chair in that way that makes absolutely no sense, catching up with my very pregnant OB about life with three kids — while she was looking directly into my vagina. The multitasking alone deserves some kind of award.

I love my doctor, and I love that I have one, which is something I'm increasingly aware of (and exactly why this news felt worth paying attention to).

ACOG just updated its cervical cancer screening guidance to include self-collection for high-risk HPV testing, meaning women between 30 and 65 can now use a swab to collect their own vaginal sample — no stirrups, no speculum, no pelvic exam required. You don't even have to find your cervix. The sample gets sent to a lab, and results come back within a week or two. Teal Health has been doing this at-home version for a while now, and it's exactly the kind of option this moment is calling for. 

Nearly half of U.S. counties don't have a single OB/GYN, which means for a lot of women, getting to a clinic at all isn't a given. Cervical cancer is one of the most preventable cancers we have, and it's still killing women largely because screening requires access that not everyone has. 

Self-collection doesn't fix the underlying problem, but it does mean that the woman who can't get an appointment, can't take a day off, or lives an hour from the nearest clinic has one fewer barrier between her and information that could save her life. The underwear-on-the-chair situation isn't going anywhere, but at least more women get a shot at the thing that actually matters.