"If you look past the rust, an ancient Roman speculum is instantly recognizable as an instrument a gynecologist might put inside you today. There are two curved metal bills, a screw to hold them apart, and the ghostly echo across the eons of a patient grunting in pain as the doctor employs it. For centuries, the speculum's job has been simple and essential: Hold apart the walls of the vagina so a clinician can see inside it, all the way up to the cervix."
"It's also famously uncomfortable. If the speculum is metal, it's cold. If it's plastic, there's a disconcerting ratcheting sound as it opens, as if the doctor were operating a piece of industrial equipment. There may be pain when the tip is inserted, or when the components expand, ranging from a slight twinge of pressure to searing agony that halts the exam."
An ancient Roman speculum closely resembles modern instruments with two curved bills and a screw to hold them apart, and evidence of patient pain during use. The speculum's function is to hold open vaginal walls so clinicians can view the cervix for Pap smears, IUD insertion, fertility treatment, or pelvic exams. The device often causes discomfort: metal feels cold, plastic ratchets loudly, and insertion or expansion can produce reactions from mild pressure to severe pain that stops an exam. Despite recognition of its archaic nature and occasional severe patient distress, few effective alternatives have been developed. The modern speculum traces to James Marion Sims's 1845 double-ended bent spoon used on enslaved patients.
Read at Slate Magazine
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