hello,

I am new to the board and got some really disturbing news that my 22 year old daughter has 8 precancerous cells in her cervix. I am afraid and also you must know that she and her fiance both have hpv which I believe is the factor in all of this. Can anyone help me?

Precancerous cells in the cervix are called dysplasia. It's very common and very easy to treat. It will not progress to cancer as long as your daughter gets any treatment her doctor recommends. Mild dysplasia often goes away by itself and requires no treatment. HPV causes almost all cases of dysplasia. Also, 80-90% of women under age thirty have HPV, so it doesn't really mean anything about your daughter or her fiance.

I don't know what you mean when you say that she has 8 precancerous cells in her cervix. If she has dysplasia, she has thousands of precancerous cells in cervix. Eight cells wouldn't be detectable.

thank you for you help Timber. I am just going by what my daughter says. I think that she mentioned a cone something that they were thinking of. The problem is this she canceled the surgery on 4/24 to remove them so she says because the md says that they have a new treatment out she may be interested in. Which I am not. My daughter says that because her and him are infected with the hpv it is more likely that the cells will come back something to that affect. I am confused and nervous. I agree that the hpv is a whole other issue. she is very healthy and I am concerned about childbirth later on as is she.

tracey

Hi Tracey! I can certainly understand how nervous you are about this situation. I am also young (26), so I'm sure my parents felt similar to you. Timber gave you some good info, but I just wanted to add a little more, especially emotional support. I had 2 of the procedures that you are talking about - cone biopsies/cold knife conizations. They were both outpatient and I was back to normal fairly quickly. I'm curious what *new* procedure your daughter will be having. Cryotherapy is not new (freezing the cells on the cervix), but some women with mild dysplasia have great success with it.

As far as the HPV goes, it is true that as many as 90% of people will have it at some point in their lives. Researchers are sure that this is the main cause behind dysplasia and cervical cancer. The good news is that we as women can do things to help our bodies recover from HPV like quitting smoking, exercising, vitamins, limiting stress, etc. The fact that both your daughter and her fiance have HPV is not the end all. It is possible that she will recover and not have to deal with this again.

And just for reference, I was diagnosed with cervical cancer in November, had 2 surgeries, and now am trying to get pregnant. I will have a hysterectomy (preventative) eventually, but my docs are confident that I will be okay.

Good luck to you and your daughter!