What to Look For

Symptoms of cervical cancer can include vaginal bleeding that's unusual for you — such as bleeding during or after sex, between periods, or after menopause, or having heavier periods than normal — as well as changes to vaginal discharge, pain during sex, and pain in the lower back, pelvis, or lower tummy. If you have another condition, such as fibroids or endometriosis, you might already get similar symptoms regularly, but it's still important to see a GP if these change, worsen, or feel different from what's normal for you.

These symptoms are common and often caused by conditions other than cancer, but it's always worth getting them checked by a GP — if cancer turns out to be the cause, catching it early makes treatment more likely to succeed. There's no need to feel embarrassed discussing these symptoms, since doctors and nurses are very used to these conversations.

What Happens at Your Appointment

You can ask for a female doctor when booking, and you'll be asked to undress from the waist down behind a screen, with a sheet provided for cover. The GP may look at the outside of the vagina, examine internally with gloved fingers while pressing on the tummy, gently use a speculum to view the cervix, or take a swab sample. It shouldn't be painful, though it can feel uncomfortable, and you're free to ask the GP to stop at any point — you can also have someone with you during the exam if you'd like. If the GP thinks your symptoms could suggest cancer, they'll arrange an urgent referral for further tests or a specialist opinion, though this doesn't necessarily mean you have cancer.

What Causes It

Nearly all cervical cancers are linked to infection with certain high-risk types of HPV, which can be passed on through skin-to-skin genital contact, vaginal, anal or oral sex, or sharing sex toys. You can't develop cervical cancer if you've had a total hysterectomy to remove the womb and cervix.

Other factors that may increase risk include having a weakened immune system (such as from HIV), giving birth to multiple children or having a child very young, a mother having taken the hormonal medicine diethylstilbestrol during pregnancy, a previous history of vaginal, vulval, kidney or bladder cancer, smoking, and taking the contraceptive pill for more than 5 years, which only slightly raises risk and where the benefits generally outweigh this for most people.

Reducing Your Risk

Cervical screening and HPV vaccination are the two most effective ways to protect against cervical cancer. Everyone with a cervix aged 25 to 64 is invited for regular cervical screening, which finds and treats cell changes before they can turn into cancer, and all children aged 12 to 13 are offered the HPV vaccine, which protects against the HPV types responsible for most cervical cancers as well as some other cancers and genital warts.

Using condoms can also lower the chance of catching HPV, though they don't cover all the surrounding genital skin, so protection isn't complete. Stopping smoking helps too, since it can weaken the immune system and the chemicals in cigarettes are themselves linked to cervical cancer. It's always worth getting any symptoms of cervical cancer checked by a GP promptly.