Human Papillomavirus is actually a family of various prevalent viruses associated with benign venereal warts as serious as cervical cancer. Certain high-risk strains can silently infect a woman’s cervix, and if they are present for several years, it can cause the cervical cells to turn into cancer. Several high-risk strains of HPV essentially cause all cervical cancer. HPV is prevalent. Statistics show that 80% of all women by age 50 will have been exposed to HPV, even if they only have one sexual partner and even if they use latex condoms. HPV is a very ubiquitous virus. Contemporary Women’s Care provides different treatment options for Orlando HPV, helping women prevent cervical cancer.
What is HPV?
The Human Papillomavirus is not a single virus but a group of about 150-200 viruses named after papilloma.
What is a virus?
A virus is microscopic and a parasite that can only survive and reproduce when it infects a living organism such as a human being.
What are the different types of HPV?
Human Papillomavirus is numbered and placed into groups on its risk of causing cancer. HPV can be low risk or high risk to cause cancer.
There are about 40 low-risk HPVs that cause warts, most of the hands and feet. HPV 6 and 11 cause 90% of genital warts.
Roughly 12 out of all the HPVs have been identified as high risk in causing cancer.
HPV 16, 18, and 45 are the most common to cause cancer of the cervix.
How do you get infected with HPV?
This viral disease is passed through the skin to skin contact. The most common way to get it is through sexual intercourse or hand to genital contact. HPV can be spread even when there are no visible signs or symptoms. In rare instances, a mother can pass it to a baby at the time of birth.
There have not been any documented cases of people getting HPV from places such as toilet seats. HPV is not spread through blood or body fluids, hugging, holding hands, swimming in pools, or sharing foods and utensils.
How to treat low-risk HPV
- No treatment
Studies have shown that if you do nothing, 30-40% of genital warts will go away on their own.
- Medical therapy
- Aldara: You put it on three times a week for up to 16 weeks. It works by stimulating your immune system to kill the HPV virus.
- Podofilox: A solution or gel that you put on three days a week for up to four weeks. This drug works by destroying the skin of the wart.
- Veren: This ointment is mainly used for immune-compromised patients.
- Trichloroacetic acid: This medicine destroys the protein of the virus.
- Surgical removal
Your doctor can surgically remove the wart using cryotherapy to freeze the wart and excise it with scissors or laser.
How to treat high-risk HPV
It is crucial to treat your HPV before it leads to cervical cancer. The good news is that before your HPV progresses to cervical cancer, it first becomes precancerous lesions or cervical dysplasia. The majority of abnormal cells will return to being normal without treatment; therefore, the preferred management is the follow-up with pap smears to ensure the dysplasia goes away on its own.
If it does not clear its own, your doctor can perform ablative therapy, killing the cells by freezing the cervix with liquid nitrogen. Excisional therapy involves cutting out the abnormal cells.
It is important to understand that once this virus infects your cells, they can stay there throughout your life. Get vaccinated against HPV today by visiting Contemporary Women’s Care.
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