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» Got Questions? Get Answers. » EXPERT ADVICE » Emergencies and Crises » Terrified! Pap smear showed HPV! » Post A Reply

Post A Reply Login Name: Password: Message Icon:                                                                       Message: HTML is not enabled. UBB Code™ is enabled. UBB Code™ Images not permitted. [QUOTE]Originally posted by Heather: [QB] Assuming your husband is a person with a penis, he could not have been tested for HPV because, to date, we don't have a test for HPV for men. As well, not only is Gardasil not 100%, but it's a three-dose immunization, so just one of the three may not offer anyone any protection at all. :( I'm sorry to hear you're feeling so freaked, but it sounds like you might be helped by some education about HPV. For instance, a pap smear can't actually test for HPV. It's a test to look for cervical cell changes. Now, often a pap smear, when it finds those changes, can suggest they might be because of HPV, but it still isn't a test for it. Why your healthcare provider wants to take a look with other tests is for that reason. So, you may or may not have HPV, since a pap can't determine that: it can only show that it might be the case. When you have the biopsy done, you'll have better information. And that's why they want to do that biopsy (which probably is a biopsy: that'd be the next step in a situation like this). All strains of HPV do not produce warts, only some. And even with those that do, when warts appear, they don't always appear in places you can see. Some strains of HPV can cause cervical cancer, and that's the reason why we need to be concerned about HPV, and why your doctor is following up. The strains that can't cause it (and that'd be the wart strains) really are little more than an annoyance for most people with it, if that. And even for most people with cervical strains (those that can cause cancer), cancer isn't usually the result, especially for folks who are good about keeping up with their sexual healthcare. While HPV should be considered something that once you have, you may always have, we also do know that plenty of people -- particularly people who acquired it in their teens or early twenties -- shed the virus over time. That can be within a year or ten, but it is often shed among many people who acquire it, so they really don't have it anymore. Per you having a normal pap with your delivery, that may be because you didn't have HPV yet, or it may be because it hadn't had an impact on your cervix yet for your pap smear to show abnormalities. I know that was a lot of info to throw at you, so just let me know if you want more clarity around any of that, or have more questions. :) [/QB][/QUOTE]

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