Colposcopy during shivah neki’im
12 April, 2016
Question:I’m in my shiva neki’im right now, expecting to go to the mikvah on Sunday evening. On Wednesday, I have an appointment for a colposcopy, which according to the Mayo Clinic website is: “a procedure to closely examine your cervix, vagina and vulva for signs of disease. During colposcopy, your doctor uses a special instrument called a colposcope.” If this procedure produces blood, will it make me in niddah again?
Thank you for your help.
Answer:While uterine bleeding renders a woman niddah, vaginal bleeding and bleeding resulting from trauma do not. A colposcopy is a type of speculum examination performed within the vaginal canal. Any resulting bleeding is vaginal.
Often a colposcopy is followed up with a cervical biopsy, which usually leads to bleeding from the biopsy itself and/or from the physician’s use of a tenaculum to grasp the cervix. This bleeding is traumatic and does not make a woman niddah.
We recommend that you perform a bedikah Wednesday morning before the colposcopy, and then omit bedikot after the procedure until Sunday. You will need to do one bedikah on Sunday before sunset in order to go to mikveh that night.
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