An abnormal Pap smear or a positive HPV test is not a diagnosis. Colposcopy is how the question gets answered. Dr. Kunda Shahane examines the cervix herself, takes the biopsy herself, and reads the report against what she saw. Dr. Kunda Shahane, MBBS · MS (Obs & Gynae) · FIFM · FMF (London).
Cervical cancer takes years to develop, and for most of those years it is a treatable change in the cells rather than a cancer. That long window is the whole reason screening works. What closes the window is not a missing test — it is the gap between an abnormal result and the examination that was supposed to follow it.
In India, somewhere between 60 and 70 per cent of cervical cancers are found only at an advanced stage, and one of the documented reasons is that women who screen positive do not go on to have the colposcopy that would have confirmed what was happening while it was still easy to treat. The screening test did its job. The follow-up did not happen.
So the most useful thing this page can tell you is unglamorous: if you have an abnormal Pap smear or a positive HPV test in your hand, book the colposcopy. It is a fifteen-minute examination. It is not surgery, it is not a cancer diagnosis, and it is the step that decides whether you need treatment or simply need watching.
ASCUS, LSIL, HSIL, ASC-H, AGC — the report will carry one of these. They describe how the cells looked, not what is actually there. Colposcopy looks at the cervix itself under magnification and takes a sample from anything suspicious, and it is the biopsy that gives the answer.
The lower-grade results very often turn out to be nothing that needs treating. That is a reason to attend, not a reason to skip it.
Which type matters. A positive result for HPV 16 or 18 usually goes straight to colposcopy even when the Pap smear is normal, because those two types account for most of the risk. Other high-risk types with a normal smear are often better managed by repeating the test after an interval and referring only if the infection persists.
Bring the full report rather than a message saying "HPV positive". The genotype changes the recommendation.
A cervix that looks abnormal to the naked eye, bleeding after intercourse, or persistent unexplained discharge are reasons to look properly rather than to keep treating for infection. These symptoms usually have an innocent cause. Colposcopy is how the less innocent causes get excluded rather than assumed away.
Treatment for a high-grade lesion is followed by a defined surveillance schedule, usually combining a smear and an HPV test, with colposcopy again if either is abnormal. Recurrence is uncommon but it is not rare enough to ignore, and it is found by keeping the schedule.
If you were treated elsewhere, bring the histology report and the date. Surveillance is planned from what was actually removed.
A colposcope is a magnifying instrument on a stand. It never enters the body. It sits outside and gives a bright, magnified view of the cervix through a speculum, in the same position as a Pap smear. Dilute acetic acid is applied to the cervix, and sometimes iodine; abnormal areas take up these solutions differently and become visible when they were invisible to the naked eye.
What the colposcopy produces is an impression — where the abnormality is, how extensive it looks, whether the whole area can be seen. What produces the diagnosis is the biopsy: a small sample taken from the area that looked worst, sent to a pathology laboratory. The two together decide what happens next, and neither is much use without the other.
Dr. Kunda performs the examination and takes the biopsy herself, then reads the histology report against what she saw at the time. A report that says "high-grade lesion" means something different depending on whether the abnormal area was small and fully visible or large and running into the canal, and only the person who looked knows which it was.
Prevention, screening, diagnosis and treatment are four different jobs. Dr. Kunda Shahane is a gynaecologist — MBBS, MS (Obs & Gynae) — with 20+ years in medicine and 14+ years in fetal medicine. She gives the HPV vaccine, takes the Pap smear and the HPV sample, performs the colposcopy, takes the biopsy and plans the follow-up. She does not perform LLETZ, cryotherapy or thermal ablation. If your biopsy shows a lesion that needs treating, she refers you for it and keeps the surveillance plan in her own hands afterwards. You should know where that line falls before you choose where to be seen, rather than after.
Cervical screening and Pap smear · HPV vaccination · About Dr. Kunda Shahane · All women’s health services
The consultation at Mayflower Clinic is ₹500. The colposcopy itself is billed by the hospital where it is carried out, and the biopsy, if one is taken, is billed by the pathology laboratory, so the total is not a single figure set here. We would rather say that plainly than publish a number that turns out to cover only part of it.
These charges can be changed at any time without prior notice — please confirm current charges with the clinic reception. See all published clinic charges, or WhatsApp +91 8087471244 with your report and we will tell you what to expect.
Written and medically reviewed by Dr. Kunda Shahane, MBBS, MS (Obs & Gynae), FIFM, FMF (London) · Last reviewed: 2 September 2026
Bring the abnormal Pap smear or the HPV report and we will tell you whether colposcopy is needed now or whether repeating the test is the better course. Mayflower Clinic, Surdham Complex, Behind Silver Palace Building, 2nd Lane from Panchsheel Square, Opp. Yashwant Stadium, Dhantoli, Nagpur – 440012.
Monday–Saturday, 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM · Sunday closed
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