Is HPV treatment covered by insurance?
Most insurance companies provide coverage for both the Pap test and the HPV test. Most states also cover Pap and HPV testing through their Medicaid programs for low-income women. Most large insurance plans usually cover the costs of HPV vaccines as well.
Is HPV considered a medical condition?
HPV can cause cervical and other cancers, including cancer of the vulva, vagina, penis, or anus. It can also cause cancer in the back of the throat (called oropharyngeal cancer). This can include the base of the tongue and tonsils. Cancer often takes years, even decades, to develop after a person gets HPV.
What kind of treatment is there for HPV?
There is no treatment for the virus itself. However, there are treatments for the health problems that HPV can cause: Genital warts can be treated by your healthcare provider or with prescription medication. If left untreated, genital warts may go away, stay the same, or grow in size or number.
Is HPV considered an immunization?
HPV vaccination is preventing cancer-causing infections and precancers. HPV infections and cervical precancers (abnormal cells on the cervix that can lead to cancer) have dropped since 2006, when HPV vaccines were first used in the United States.
Do I need a colposcopy if I have HPV?
If you test positive for HPV 16/18, you will need to have a colposcopy. If you test positive for HPV (but did not have genotyping performed or had genotyping and tested negative for 16/18), you will likely have a colposcopy.
Can HPV come back once it has cleared?
While HPV doesn't come back after clearing completely, it's difficult to know if an infection has actually been resolved or is simply dormant. Additionally, while you're unlikely to be reinfected with the exact same type of HPV, you can be infected with another strain.
How is HPV treated suppressed and cured?
There is no cure for the virus itself, but many HPV infections go away on their own. In fact, about 70 to 90 percent of cases of HPV infection are cleared from the body by the immune system. When treatment is needed, the goal is to relieve symptoms by removing any visible warts and abnormal cells in the cervix.
What happens if you test positive for HPV?
If you get a positive HPV test, your physician has detected one or more high risk strains of the virus on the Pap test of your cervix. If the virus stays with you for a long time, it can cause cell changes that can lead to several types of cancer.
What does it mean if your Pap is normal but HPV is positive?
Your cervical cells are normal, but you have HPV. may not fight off HPV, and HPV could cause cell changes in the future. women fight off HPV and some do not. Get another Pap and HPV test in 1 year.
Does Medicare cover HPV vaccine?
Medicare: Typically, the HPV vaccine is covered under Medicare Part D, though coverage may vary. More information can be found through the state's Medicare office.
What type of vaccine is HPV?
About HPV Vaccines 9-valent HPV vaccine (Gardasil-9 [23 pages] ) is a non-infectious recombinant vaccine prepared from the purified virus-like particles (VLPs) of the major capsid (L1) protein of HPV types 6, 11, 16, 18, 31, 33, 45, 52, and 58.
Is HPV free?
How much does the HPV vaccine cost? The HPV vaccine is free for most people through age 26 who have health insurance, including those covered by their parents' insurance. Even if you don't have health insurance, you may still be able to get it for free or at a lower cost.
What happens if you have a positive HPV test?
Positive HPV test. A positive test result means that you have a type of high-risk HPV that's linked to cervical cancer. It doesn't mean that you have cervical cancer now, but it's a warning sign that cervical cancer could develop in the future.
What happens if you have HPV?
In women, these strains can cause cancers of the cervix, vagina, vulva, and anus, as well as head and neck cancers. Almost all cases of cervical cancers are caused by the HPV virus. In men, high risk strains of HPV can cause penile, anal and head and neck cancers.
How long does it take to clear HPV?
For 90 percent of women with HPV, the condition will clear up on its own within two years. Only a small number of women who have one of the HPV strains that cause cervical cancer will ever actually develop the disease.
Does high risk HPV go away?
High-risk HPV types Infection with HPV is very common. In most people, the body is able to clear the infection on its own. But sometimes, the infection doesn't go away. Chronic, or long-lasting infection, especially when it's caused by certain high-risk HPV types, can cause cancer over time.
What Is Human Papillpoma Virus (HPV)?
HPV stands for human papilloma virus. It is a very common virus. There are about 100 types of HPV that affect different parts of the body. About 30...
How Is HPV Related to Cervical Cancer?
Certain strains of HPV can cause changes in the cells of the cervix, a condition called cervical dysplasia. If it is not treated, dysplasia can adv...
How Do You Get Human Papilloma Virus (HPV)?
Genital HPV is spread through contact with (touching) the skin of someone who has an HPV infection. Contact includes vaginal, anal, and oral sex. S...
What Are The Symptoms of HPV?
In many cases, HPV causes no symptoms. When they do occur, the most common symptom is warts in the genital area. Signs of infection can appear week...
Home Remedies and Lifestyle
Prescriptions
- Genital warts and anal warts are caused by human papillomavirus. There are roughly 40 different low-risk HPV types that can cause genital warts, the vast majority of which are caused by HPV6 and HPV11.9 The HPV types that cause genital warts rarely cause cancer. Even so, they can be itchy, painful, or unsightly.9 Most genital warts will resolve on their own without treatment withi…
Surgery and Specialist-Driven Procedures
- Specialist procedures, including surgery, are sometimes used to treat genital warts that are not responsive to at-home treatments. The same applies to HPV-related changes in cells that can lead to cancer, referred to as dysplasia.
Vaccination
- Scientists have long been trying to develop a therapeutic vaccine that can prevent high-risk HPV from causing cancer. Despite advances in research, there are currently no therapeutic HPV vaccines approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).22 This doesn't mean that the current preventive vaccine, called Gardasil-9, doesn't play a role in people who already have HPV…
Summary
- There is no cure for human papillomavirus (HPV). The treatment is instead focused on managing the conditions that HPV can cause. This includes genital and HPV warts. These conditions may be treated with topical prescription drugs or removed with procedures like cryotherapy, laser therapy, electrocautery, and surgery. There are also procedures used ...
A Word from Verywell
- While an HPV diagnosis can be distressing, it helps you catch any problems before they become serious or even life-threatening. By and large, treatments for HPV-associated conditions have few complications. Many of the treatments are covered, at least in part, by health insurance. Patient assistance and co-pay assistance programsare also available to reduce your out-of-pocket cost…