Persistent HPV

[FreshfieldsGal]

Hi.
I've had 3 x annual smears that all showed HPV positive but no abnormal cells. Got referred for colposcopy last September, all looked normal, biopsies normal too.
She wanted me to have another smear at the colp clinic a year later (next month) but due to Covid my appt has been cancelled.
I have an appointment for smear at my GP practice next week.
Does anyone know what happens if it shows HPV again?
Thanks!

Hey! How did your recent smear test go? It's good all your biopsies etc have been normal :) I have had CIN3 cells removed following my first smear test which was rubbish!

Do you smoke? Your immune system will find it harder to clear HPV if so (I do, incidentally, so that's not a dig at smokers). If your biopsies are normal but you are still carrying HPV, they'll just keep you on annual smears, as far as I know.

I've had 3 x smears that showed high risk HPV but I also had minor cell changes until this year when they were minor/moderate so I had an LLETZ earlier this week after a recent colposcopy and biopsy confirmed the moderate cell changes.

I had HPV in January and abnormal cells, I had the abnormal cells removed and had a follow up smear a few weeks ago, which came back HPV negative.

The nurse told me that if you’re Hpv positive they just keep bringing you back for yearly smears - chances are your immune system will clear it, but if not they can remove any dodgy cells swiftly.

Once you get a HPV negative result, you go back onto the 3 yearly smear schedule (like I am now thank God!)

Good luck

You will always have HPV op there’s no cure. It lies dormant and as this is only picked up via a smear test it’s hard to pin point if it is actually gone (forever or not).

@Bluerose433 I don't think it's true that you will always have HPV.. for example, majority of people do get HPV but they won't ever know about it because it's cleared by the body. People who test positive for HPV at their smears are monitored with regular smears to see if their body has cleared it or not. If the body can't clear it, then it can develop into abnormal cells. This is why they don't do cell removal if you test positive ONLY for HPV and not negative cells.

The reason why people don’t realise is because there’s not really any symptoms. Also men can’t get tested for it neither can women.
So on a scale of probability it’s only found once every 3 years on your smear possibly if it’s picked up at that current time.

It's so good that there's a vaccine now though which is given to both boys and girls

Yes I agree.