HPV & Dysplasia

[Tina562]

A nurse at my doctor's office told me that dysplasia is always caused by HPV. Does anyone know if this is backed by evidence? She said that there is no HPV test for men. If HPV is the only cause of dysplasia it seems there would be testing for both genders.

[simplynat]

Yes, HPV is the causitve factor for 99.8% of all cervical cancers (squamous and adenocarcinoma being the two most common types and HPV causes 100% of these two).
LSIL and HSIL (which are pap results) tend to coincide with a colposcopy diagnosis of CIN1, CIN2, CIN3 which are all squamous dysplasia (which have the potential to lead to squamous cervical cancer if they progress) and glandular dysplasia (AIS) has the ability to progress to adenocarcinoma.
It is rare for a cervical cancer to not be caused by HPV (.2%) these types are usually very aggressive like clear cell (caused by DES exposure which stopped in 1971) or small cell cervical cancer, etc.
I completely agree with you in regards to the flippant attitude by many health care professionals regarding HPV and HPV testing for men. Yes, for the vast majority of people it doesn't cause any ill effects but for those of that have been dealing with persistent cervical, vulvar, vaginal and/or anal disease/cancer caused by HPV it does seem like a big deal. Because of this, many of us feel the need to spread the word and the facts regarding HPV because it can have very devastating effects for some people, even without it progressing into cancer. Multiple cervical or vulva surgeries have many lasting effects. While HPV is extremely common I think sexually active people have a respsonsibility to learn and spread the word about HPV and if they know they have it, their HPV status absolutely should be shared with any potential partner. To omit that and to assume that it won't cause any ill effects is irresponsible.