'I Tried the First FDA-Approved At-Home Cervical Cancer Screening Test—Here’s What It’s Like'

No one looks forward to getting a pap smear. No matter how much you like your gyno, lying on your back with your feet in the stirrups while they probe your most sensitive area isn’t exactly a fun experience. 

But pap smears are important, because a pap smear can help detect precancerous cell changes before they develop into cancer. This is key to preventing cervical cancer or catching it early.

Cervical cancer can cause fertility issues, pain, kidney damage, urinary problems, bleeding and death. According to the National Cancer Institute, there were more than 13,000 new cases of cervical cancer in the U.S. in 2025 and 4,320 people died from it.

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Ready for some good news? Last year, the Food and Drug Administration approved the very first at-home cervical cancer screening test, Teal. Essentially, you use a wand to collect a sample of vaginal cells yourself and mail them off to be screened for the HPV virus, which is the primary cause of cervical cancer.

Curious about how doing an at-home cervical cancer screening test works? Here’s everything you need to know, including how you can get the Teal screening test, how it works, how much it costs and what happens if you get a positive result.

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How the Teal’s At-Home Cervical Cancer Screening Test Works

While Teal’s at-home test can be done in place of a pap smear to screen for cervical cancer, there are differences between this test and a pap smear performed at the doctor’s office. “A pap smear takes cells directly from the cervix, which are then looked at under a microscope for [problematic] changes. Cells with problematic changes are considered ‘precancerous,’ which means they could develop into cancer later. What we’ve learned over time is that HPV causes those changes to occur,” explains Dr. Liz Swenson, MD, FACOG, an obstetrician-gynecologist and Teal’s medical director.

Dr. Swenson explains that the Teal test (which looks like a wand) collects cells from the vagina (not the cervix, which sits at the top of the vaginal canal) to test for HPV, which is a risk factor for those cell changes to occur. She says that according to clinical trials, the Teal wand detected HPV at the same rate as health providers collecting samples.  

Dr. Swenson adds that the chances of getting cervical cancer not from HPV are very, very rare. Scientific research backs this up, showing that 99.7% of cervical cancer cases are caused by HPV. This is why testing for HPV works as an effective way to screen for cervical cancer. 

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This doesn’t mean that if you have HPV—something 80% of women in the U.S. will get at some point in their life—you will automatically get cervical cancer. Ninety percent of the time, HPV doesn’t turn into cervical cancer. But it’s important to screen for HPV to take into account the 10% of the time that it does.

Currently, the Teal wand is FDA-approved for people with a cervix at average-risk for cervical cancer. That means if you’ve had a full hysterectomy, you do not need this screening. The Teal wand is not approved for people younger than 25 and older than 65, who have already been screened for cervical cancer in the past 12 months, are pregnant, have a history of cancer affecting the reproductive system or who have had any previous treatment for cervical precancer within the last 25 years. As long as none of that applies to you, you qualify to try it.

Even if you’ve received the Gardasil vaccine in the past (a vaccine that helps protect against cancers and diseases caused by nine types of HPV), Dr. Swenson says that it’s still important to be screened for cervical cancer because there is still a chance of getting a strain of HPV that the Gardasil vaccine doesn’t protect against.

To get access to the Teal wand, you go to their website and answer a short questionnaire to make sure you’re qualified to take it. If you have insurance, the test costs $99 and it costs $249 without insurance.  

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What It’s Like To Try the Teal At-Home Cervical Cancer Screening Test

After logging on to Teal’s website and filling out the short questionnaire, I was approved to try the Teal test myself. But first, I had to meet virtually with one of Teal’s gynecologists. I met virtually with Dr. Swenson, who asked some questions about my medical history (to double-check that I qualified for the test) and explained how to use the wand. Shortly after our call, I received a text from Teal saying that my Teal wand was on its way to me.

The Teal wand came in a pretty teal box and besides the wand, it also came with gloves (which aren’t required, but are there for those who want to wear them), a labeled vial to place the sample in, a safety bag to protect the vial and a pre-stamped mailing envelope. 

At one end of the wand there is a soft sponge, which is what is used to collect the cells from the vaginal wall. The other end of the wand has a handle and a dial that moves up and down and rotates. 

Dr. Swenson had told me that collecting the sample using the wand was similar to inserting a tampon. She was 100 percent right. I pushed my pants and underwear down and slightly spread my legs apart. Then, I inserted the wand and slowly pushed the dial up, the same as I would if I were inserting a tampon. Then, I rotated the dial on the handle, which caused the sponge to rotate as it collected the vaginal cells.

After I rotated the dial several times, I gently pulled the wand out. Then, I pinched the edges of the sponge to remove it from the wand (touching it is okay) and put it in the labeled vial. The whole process took less than 10 minutes, and it wasn’t painful or uncomfortable at all. Most of that time was spent reading the directions.

Once the vial was safely in the pre-stamped envelope, I took it to the mailbox for it to be sent off. I received a text the next day that my sample was received. Then, about a week later, I got another text that my results were in.

Fortunately, my results were negative, which means I do not have HPV and am therefore not currently at risk for cervical cancer. Once I got my results, I downloaded them and sent them to my doctor to keep on file.

For those who get a positive result, Dr. Swenson says that the next step is to get a pap smear in a doctor’s office. That way, cell samples from the cervix can be collected and given a closer look. Those with a positive result are recommended to get another screening in one year, while those who have a negative screening can wait three years for their next screening.

I can tell you first-hand that the new at-home cervical cancer screening test is simple and not at all uncomfortable. And it’s certainly better than an in-office pap smear! If you qualify to try it, my advice is to take advantage of it. The more you know about your personal health, the better protected you will be.

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Sources:

• Cervical Cancer. Cleveland Clinic
• Cancer Stat Facts: Cervical Cancer. National Cancer Institute. National Institutes of Health
• Dr. Liz Swenson, MD, FACOG, obstetrician-gynecologist and medical director at Teal
• Swenson, E., VonderHaar, E., Ruiz, J., et al. (2026). Delivering HPV results via telehealth: Patient needs and engagement following an at-home self-collection study. Digital Health. Feb 10;12:20552076261421347. doi: 10.1177/20552076261421347
• Sharafadeen Okunade, K. (2020). Human papillomavirus and cervical cancer. Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. 40(5):602-608
• Human papillomavirus. Office on Women’s Health. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 
• Human papillomavirus and cancer. World Health Organization
• HPV vaccine: Who needs it, how it works. Mayo Clinic