You can ask for a different sized speculum!

You can ask for a different sized speculum! For those who do not know a speculum is an instrument nurses use to see inside your vagina – or generally hollow parts of your body!).

But who knew that you can request a different size? I certainly didn’t for during my teens, 20s and 30s.  It is only now in my 40s that I was told we could ask the nurse to use a different, smaller size. It turns out that nurses tend to guess the size they will use based on our height. A smear test should not be painful and if it is, they should be using a smaller speculum.

I think it’s easy to say that the problem here is a lack of education or knowledge among women. In reality, how many women are asked whether they are in pain during a smear test or other type of invasive examination? Having spoken to female friends about this I would guess that it’s <1%. I notice that one of the categories here is ‘navigating through a health system’ – the truth is as women we have to battle our way through the health system – fighting for better care and less pain. The simple fact that you can ask for a different sized speculum should be something all women are told the first time they go for an examination.

MM, United Kingdom