Adina Nack, Ph.D.

I received an email from a 25-year-old, married, monogamous woman who just found out she had a serious cervical HPV infection that required a LEEP treatment. She could not understand how this had happened, since she had been getting annual pap smear exams for the past 10 years. Her doctor told her it was "bad luck," and now she is worried about the possibility of her having an oral HPV infection. I wrote her the following reply:

I appreciate you contacting me and treat all the details of your story as confidential. I have some ideas and recommendations, but I want to make sure that you understand that I am not a medical doctor. I'll be addressing your questions and concerns from the perspectives of being a professional sexual health educator, a medical sociologist, having dealt with my own cervical HPV infection, and as a STD researcher (having conducted in-depth interview studies of women and men living with STDs, not clincical/medical studies).

You have been doing the right thing by getting annual pap smear exams. Unfortunately, doctors do not do a good job explaining that the pap smear procedure only samples a small area of a woman's cervix.

Since your only sexual partner has been your husband, it would be good for him to get thoroughly examined by a doctor (a urologist may be best) for HPV/genital warts. If HPV-infected cells are found, then he should have them removed as soon as possible. The CDC website has good information about men and HPV. You'll also want to consider using a condom during sex until you both feel certain that he and you do not have active HPV infections. Though, it's important to understand that using a condom only reduces the risk of transmission and does not fully eliminate the risk.

In terms of better understanding your own HPV infection, you'll want to find out if they did a 'viral typing' or 'HPV test' to determine which type of HPV you had. For example, HPV 16 seems to be linked to oral/head/neck cancers. You may want to see your dentist for a thorough oral/throat visual inspection -- make sure to tell you dentist that you know you have been exposed to HPV orally. Here is a link to another article about the connection between HPV 16 and certain types of oral cancer.

A key point about HPV is that it is a virus, so you'll want to do what you can to strengthen your immune system while your body is healing from your LEEP procedure. For example, avoid behaviors that weaken your immune system (like smoking and drinking), make sure to eat a nutritious diet and get good sleep. If you are feeling anxious and/or depressed as you go through this time, then you may want to seek counseling because, while it's completely understandable that you are feeling a lot of stress right now, research has shown that stress can weaken a person's immune system.

Given the especially difficult circumstances of your HPV infection, I think you will find my book helpful for coping with the many challenges you are currently facing. Also, please consider signing up for my E-News so that you'll receive my quarterly updates on information subscribers may find useful.

Best wishes for your health,

Dr. Nack