First off, good luck lauren. Surgery sucks ass (i've had more than my fair share at age 24), but it's all for the better. Hopefully all your future paps will come out negative!
But I would just like to tack on here, because I've seen a lot of conflicting posts:
1) The HPV vaccine before and after infection
The HPV vaccine (Gardasil or Cervarix) CAN be useful even after you have been diagnosed with an infection leading to warts or cancer. The Gardasil vaccine protects against 4 of the 6 most dangerous (based on frequency of disease in humans) types of the virus, so if you haven't been infected with the other 3 yet, you are getting protection against those. The vaccine CAN ALSO protect from the development of precancerous lesions/cancer EVEN IF YOU ARE ALREADY INFECTED, it is simply less effective (about 44% effective if considering only strains 16 and 18, the two most linked to cervical cancer, and down to about 17% when considering all strains that can cause cancer). Most studies have shown that the vaccine is almost 100% effective in women that have never been infected with any strain, and up to around 20% effective in women that have been infected with at least one strain. The Cervarix vaccine only protects against strains 16 and 18 (the two worst cervical cancer-causing types), and has shown to have some effects against types 31 and 45 as well (also cause cervical cancer).
It is unknown at this point how long the protection lasts, but Cervarix has been shown to be effective for at least 6.4 years, and Gardasil is effective for at least 5. It is unknown if boosters will be needed to confer permanent immunity. Also keep in mind that these immunizations do not work fully (or even at all in some cases) if you don't receive all the necessary shots on the correct schedule. If you do choose to be vaccinated, make sure you stick STRICTLY to the directed regimen. I got my Gardasil shots, almost to the hour, on the exact schedule prescribed, and I recommend everyone else do the same! (And another note on Gardasil - it is anecdotally reported to cause much stronger reactions in people than many vaccines, and I myself had the first adverse reaction of my entire life. After the second shot, I got very woozy for a few hours, but it cleared up before the next day.)
2) Re: HPV vs HSV and what they do - and staying in your system
The herpes simplex virus (HSV-1/cold sores and HSV-2/genital herpes) infects the body and basically burrows into your nerves and can keep living in you in what is called a latent state, where it is basically "asleep" and not replicating. It can live there for the rest of your life, and it can/will keep "waking up" (as in cold sores or genital sores) as a result of many factors like getting other viruses, extreme stress, and even exposure to sunlight. Some people have reactivation much more frequently than others - some people will only ever see one outbreak in their lives, some will see dozens. It is not known if HSV can ever be cleared from the body, but its effects can be weakened with the use of antivirals like Valtrex.
You can also compare this to people who get shingles after having the chicken pox - chicken pox is caused by a herpes virus as well, and that's why the vaccine was such a big deal when it came out, even though chicken pox isn't usually considered a big deal. No one wants a virus living in them forever, especially if there's a chance of reactivation! More than 80% of the US has some kind of herpes infection.
The human papillomavirus (HPV) causes genital warts, precancerous lesions, and cancer. It can lead to cancer of the vagina, vulva, cervix, and anus in women and the penis and anus in men, as well as a form of head and neck cancer in both genders. It can infect the epidermis (skin) and mucous membranes (like in the vagina). The types that cause warts don't cause cancer, and vice versa. The kinds that cause cancer are called "high risk" for genital cancer, and there are at least 12 strains in this category, probably 13 (strain 68 ), with another 5 considered "probably high-risk" (strain 68 is sometimes put here instead). There are 30+ types that are transmitted sexually (and well over a hundred types overall, among which are the viruses that cause "regular" warts), and many have no symptoms. Many people are infected and never know it, because there are no symptoms and the virus is then frequently cleared by the body naturally - 70% of infections are usually gone within one year, and 90% within two years.
However, the issue with HPV is that it can also have a latency period of months or even years - so it is difficult to determine which partner caused the infection - during which the virus actually incorporates itself into your DNA. The viral DNA will remain there as long as the cell keeps replicating and the immune system does not destroy it. This is what causes cancer with the cancer-causing types of the virus - it can mess with the cell's normal cancer-preventing strategies, and the cell will turn cancerous. After the latent phase, the virus goes into an active state where regular disease symptoms will develop (warts, etc.). Some recent research suggests that some people will never clear the virus at all, but that is up for debate, and it is very uncommon even if true.
Keep in mind that there is a 60% chance of transmission from a single episode of sexual contact with an infected person, and a latex condom does not provide complete protection because only skin-to-skin contact is necessary!!!
BE SAFE EVERYONE!
