Do i need to tell my partner about my abnormal pap?

[September1987]

I had my results come back for my pap today and the test results came back abnormal for high risk HPV. I have been reading a lot on here and how common this really is......

So my questions are:

1) The guy i have been seeing is 32 and has been with well over 5 women........Is it really worth mentioning it to him cause he is probably a carrier already? I mean why add the stress of it if it wasn't type 6 or 11?

2) I have also read that this type of HPV hardly ever leads to cancer. What is your view on this?

3) Wasn't i bound to get this sometime in my life anyways? Thats what it seems like after reading some of the posts on here.....That 80% of women have it.......

So i guess my main question out of all of this is having to tell him. What is your viewpoint on this?

[September1987]

I am 25 years old right now. I more so don't even really want to mention it to him because of the stigma attached to having an abnormal pap when really he is probably a carrier himself. With almost everyone having it i just don't see the need of adding the unneeded stress.

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Welcome to our Forum.  We receive many questions about HPV and disclosure to sexual partners on this Forum.  There are many perspectives on this and I will provide you with mine and the rationale behind my comments.  The issue of disclosure or not is not really related to the issue of possible infectivity for your partner and has more to do with your relationship and what you share about your health with your partner than anything else.  From a medical perspective however, there is little reason to disclose your PAP smear abnormalities to him.  Disclosure will not change his current risk (which is miniscule) or what he should do about the possible exposure (since he need not do anything).  As you point out, being over 30 and having had at least five partners, your partner likely has already had HPV, beyond any exposures which may have occurred during your own sexual activities.  None of this can be undone and, in our opinions, there is very, very little to worry about related to these exposures.  Nearly all HPV infections resolve over time without therapy, particularly in men and there are rarely important consequences of HPB for infected men.  

In your own case, depending on your age and the specific abnormalities present in your PAP smear, there is a good chance your own abnormalities will resolve.  if your doctor thinks they need therapy however, you should then be glad that you had your PAP smear so that you could detect these abnormalities before they progressed to a more troublesome stage of infection.  

IN addition to my comments above, I have provided a somewhat related link to a reply that Dr. Handsfield made to another client about the issue of HPV disclosure.

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/STDs/Past-HPV/show/1814012

I see that you have asked the same question on several of our community sites.  I presume that the answers you get from them will be similar to mine.  I hope my comments are helpful.  EWH