hpv and throat cancer - Cancer: Throat Message Board

pookie74 · 06-18-2008, 06:38 AM

Okay, I have a high-risk strain of hpv, which I've passed onto my boyfriend. We've been together for five years, and in those five years we have only been with each other and had regular oral sex. I just read an article about the connection between oral sex and throat/mouth cancers, so now we're both freaking out. Are we supposed to stop oral sex cold turkey - is the risk of throat cancer cumulative, where the more oral sex we engage in, the more at risk we are? Or after five years, are we basically screwed anyway, so whether or not we continue won't change the risk? How should we proceed from here?

newpatient485 · 06-18-2008, 08:15 AM

I'm not sure on the stats (hopefully someone else can help), but my doctor told me that the chances of throat cancer are pretty remote.

rhiannon777 · 06-19-2008, 09:56 PM

Even with HPV, the risks of throat cancer are teeny tiny. This link was uncovered fairly recently and all the details aren't worked out, but it really isn't something you should worry about. Just think about it....most people have HPV at some point, most people have oral sex...if there was that strong of a cause-and-effect, there would be tons of people with throat cancer, yet almost no one suffers from throat cancer. Just keep on having oral sex as much as you want and don't worry about it.