In Reply to: Re: Abnormal pap and abnormal bleeding with pain. posted by LM on November 20, 2000 at 22:37:35:

just to add some info:
abnormal pap might indicate that you have an infection caused by a virus call HPV (do not mistake it with HIV), that studies have shown a connection between it and cancer (women that had the HPV has greater chances to get canser in the future).
a colposcopy exam enables the doctors to actually see the places where the HPV causes an infection, and from there (if they see it) they take the biopsy.
the treatment is rather simple and not very painful - they simply remove the infected tissues with laser.
i had it done 5 years ago. since then i do pap and colposcopy every year to see that the HPV hasn't come back. my last pap was ambiguous, but the colposcopy has shown no signs for HPV.
of course, it doesn;t mean that you have it too, but better safe than sorry.
good luck.