Surprising Benefits of Sex Slideshow Pictures Take the Yeast Infection Quiz What's Causing Your Pelvic Pain Slideshow

Medical Author:

Arasi Thangavelu-Veluswamy, MD, FAAEM

Coauthor:

Suzanne R Trupin, MD

Medical Editor:

Jerry R. Balentine, DO, FACEP

Jerry R. Balentine, DO, FACEP

Dr. Balentine received his undergraduate degree from McDaniel College in Westminster, Maryland. He attended medical school at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine graduating in1983. He completed his internship at St. Joseph's Hospital in Philadelphia and his Emergency Medicine residency at Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center in the Bronx, where he served as chief resident.

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Surgery

• If symptoms continue after antibiotic therapy, the inflamed area of the cervix may be cauterized by electrocoagulation (heat), cryotherapy (freezing), or laser treatment to destroy the infected tissue. Such therapies are rarely used because antibiotics are highly effective in treating cervicitis and surgeries can cause complications such as cervical stenosis (closed opening) and cervical incompetence (weak cervix that can open in pregnancy and lead to premature birth).
  
  
• If you have prolonged or repeated bouts of cervicitis, your doctor may recommend a procedure designed to destroy the abnormal cells on the surface of your cervix. The most common procedures are cautery (heat therapy), cryosurgery (freeze therapy), or laser treatment. Again, such therapies are infrequently used.