Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. The speculum — the medical device used during pelvic exams — hasn't changed much in 170 years. (Getty Images; illustration: ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. If you look past the rust, an ancient Roman speculum is instantly recognizable as an instrument a gynecologist might put inside ...

The invasive duck-billed metal device has been the bane of routine checkups for 180 years. It’s time to reinvent the pelvic exam. The present-day pelvic exam, born through the graceless adequacy of a ...

Cold metal. Eerie clicking sound. Torturous duck-billed shape. Yes, I’m talking about the speculum, the anxiety-inducing device that doctors use to check women’s vaginal health. Despite its status as ...

Finally, after 150 years of uncomfortable gynecological exams full of cold prongs, painful stretching, and repeated commands to "scootch down," the speculum is being redesigned. For those of you who ...

Unnecessary testing may expose young women to “preventable harms,” including anxiety, false-positives, and treatment that isn’t needed, according to findings in JAMA Internal Medicine. About 1.4 ...

More than half of bimanual pelvic exams (BPE) given to young women aged 15 to 20 years are likely unnecessary, according to estimates from a study published online today in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Female teens seeking birth control are less likely to undergo pelvic exams. Doctors say that young women’s dread of the invasive procedure prevents them from seeking not only contraceptive counseling, ...

Anyone who has ever had been screened for cervical cancer, aka gotten a Pap smear, during a pelvic exam knows how uncomfortable it can be — and the speculum plays a key role in that. The ...