I had a sore throat that persisted for a few weeks. It didn't really worry me, but one day I decided to look in my throat and saw this thing that looked like a polyp, on a stalk, near my tonsil. It was soft and the same color as the surrounding tissue. I went to ENT who put a scope up my nose and into my throat. He said it looked like a papilloma. This is when I remembered having HPV virus nearly 10 years ago - had an irregular pap smear that showed moderate dysplasia. I had cryosurgery for that. Since then I've had normal pap smears. I have never looked in my throat and my dentist never mentioned this thing so I have no idea how long it's been there. Recently I started researching HPV and am surprised at its link to cancer. I am a cancer survivor already - diagnosed with melanoma this past summer. So do I have to worry about throat cancer now the rest of my life? Since there is a growth the dr said was a wart in my throat (pending biopsy results) does that mean I have hpv in my throat? I read the kind that causes warts isn't the dangerous kind. So does that mean the kind I have isnt teh dangerous kind? What would an HPV induced cancer of the throat look like? What am I to look for? What is the differential diagnosis of this thing they removed? Could it be cancerous?

Hi,

I had one removed about 3 years ago and it was a papiloma and it was benign, but I worried like crazy about it. And oddly enough TODAY I have a bump just above it, a salivary gland that flairs up once a year.

You can call the lab (before they toss the specimen) and ask them for hpv typing testing, that way you will know. They tossed mine before I realized that I should do that!

Good Luck!

Hello worries

Not all the people with HPV infections develop cancers, so it best to just be alert to changes in our body (regardless of being HPV+ve or not) and not worry too much.

Do let us know how you get on.

Best wishes
Vinod