Page last updated: January 2026
The information on this webpage was adapted from Understanding Cervical Cancer - A guide for people with cancer, their families and friends (2025 edition). This webpage was last updated in January 2026.
Expert content reviewers:
This information was developed with the help of a range of health professionals and people affected by cervical cancer:
- Dr Antonia Jones, Gynaecological Oncologist, Royal Women’s Hospital and Mercy Hospital for Women, Melbourne, VIC
- Angelyn Aligarbes, Consumer
- A/Prof Emma Allanson, Gynaecological Oncologist and Head of Dept, Gynaecologic Oncology, King Edward Memorial Hospital for Women, WA
- Gemma Busuttil, Radiation Therapist Specialist, Crown Princess Mary Cancer Centre, Westmead Hospital, NSW
- Laura Carman, 13 11 20 Consultant, Cancer Council VIC
- Danielle Carpenter, Gynaecology Nurse Consultant, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, VIC
- A/Prof Pearly Khaw, Lead Radiation Oncologist – Gynae-Oncology, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, VIC
- Georgina Richter, Gynae-Oncology Clinical Nurse Consultant, Royal Adelaide Hospital, SA
- A/Prof Megan Smith, Research Fellow, Cancer Elimination Collaboration, University of Sydney, NSW
- Sophia Wooldridge, Senior Clinical Psychologist, Hunter New England Centre for Gynaecological Cancer, John Hunter Hospital, NSW
- Melissa Whalen, Consumer.
It will take some time to recover from treatment for cervical cancer. You may find the cancer affects you physically and emotionally.
Vaginal changes from treatment
Treatment for cervical cancer often causes vaginal side effects. Surgery may shorten the vagina, and radiation therapy can narrow the vagina, causing thinning of the walls and dryness.
Scar tissue from treatment can leave the vagina shorter and narrower. This is called vaginal stenosis. It can make sexual penetration difficult and painful and also make vaginal examinations uncomfortable.
Your doctor or nurse may suggest you use a vaginal dilator to help keep the walls of the vagina open and supple. Dilators are tube-shaped devices made from plastic or silicone, designed to gently stretch the vagina.
Some people find using a dilator challenging. Your doctor, nurse or physiotherapist can provide practical advice on how to use them.
Sex, intimacy and cancer
Sex and desire after treatment
How you might feel
It’s common to feel shocked or upset about having cancer in such an intimate part of your body.
Changes to how your body looks and feels, along with treatment-related hormone changes, can affect your confidence and interest in sex.
You might also feel embarrassed or unsure about asking for help. These feelings are natural.
Emotions and Cancer
Being intimate
Give yourself time. Touching, hugging and kissing can help you feel close without expecting sex. You might try oral sex, mutual masturbation, or sex toys.
Use water- or silicone-based lubricants to make penetration more comfortable. If you have vaginal dryness, talk to your doctor about hormone creams or vaginal moisturisers.
Sex, Intimacy and Cancer
Talk to someone
It can help to share how you’re feeling about the diagnosis and treatment side effects, and how it may be impacting your relationships and sex life.
Talking with a professional such as a counsellor, sex therapist or psychologist can help. Ask your doctor for a referral.
You can also call Cancer Council 13 11 20 for more information.
Fertility issues
If your uterus is removed or you have radiation therapy to the uterus and cervix, you will not be able to conceive children or carry a pregnancy.
Before treatment starts, ask your doctor or a fertility specialist about what options are available to you.
Being told that your reproductive organs will be removed or will no longer work can be devastating. Even if your family is complete or you did not want children, you may still feel a sense of loss and grief. These reactions are common.
Speaking to a counsellor or gynaecological oncology nurse about your feelings can be helpful.
Fertility and cancer
Follow-up appointments
After treatment, you will need check-ups every 3–12 months for several years. These are to manage any long-term side effects and check that the cancer hasn’t come back (recurred) or spread.
At check-ups, you may have a pelvic examination, follow-up HPV tests, blood tests, and imaging scans. Between visits, let your doctor know immediately if you have any symptoms.
What if cervical cancer returns?
While the risk of cervical cancer coming back is very low, it does return for some people. If the cancer does recur, you will usually be offered further treatment to treat the cancer or help control its growth.
If you had radiation therapy the first time you had treatment, you may not be able to have further radiation therapy.
New drug treatments to treat a recurrence may be available through clinical trials. Ask your doctor whether a clinical trial may be an option for you.