What should women pay attention to when treating cervical erosion?

After the physical examination, the diagnosis of "cervical erosion" is often heard. Many people believe that they have severe cervical inflammation because of this word, especially "severe cervical erosion", and even go to many places for treatment, using antibiotics, laser, and freezing. However, experts point out that cervical erosion is not real erosion, and cervical erosion is not equal to cervicitis. As long as the "erosion" does not cause discomfort or malignant transformation, it does not need to be treated.

Cervical erosion may be a normal physiological phenomenon

"Cervical erosion sounds scary, as if the inflammation is very serious, but it is not necessarily the case." Director Zhou Longshu of the Department of Gynecology at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical College said that cervical erosion is not a diagnosis, but a description of the appearance of the cervix seen by the naked eye. The so-called erosion is not necessarily a real erosion. It may be due to changes in hormone levels in the body, which causes the squamous epithelium of the cervix to fall off and the columnar epithelium to grow outside, which then looks like erosion.

If your physical examination report says cervical erosion, there may be three situations. The first is a normal physiological phenomenon, which is simply the outward migration of columnar epithelium caused by hormones. The "erosion" in this case can repair itself due to hormonal changes. The second situation may be a manifestation of true cervical inflammation, and there should also be symptoms such as excessive vaginal discharge and low back pain. The third situation may be a manifestation of early cervical cancer.

"Therefore, the term cervical erosion is inaccurate and cannot be used as a diagnosis. The term cervical erosion has been abolished abroad." Director Zhou told reporters that when you see "cervical erosion" during a physical examination, don't be nervous, but find out which condition you have.

No discomfort, no malignant transformation, don't over-treat. The term "cervical erosion" was used very commonly in the past. Some doctors and patients lacked more knowledge about "cervical erosion", which led to over-treatment of cervical erosion. Director Zhou said that many patients, based on the diagnosis of "cervical erosion", went to the hospital to use a large amount of antibiotics, excessive surgical freezing, laser treatment and cervical cone resection. These treatments are over-treated without clarifying which of the three conditions this "cervical erosion" is. It is very likely that it is useless or even destructive to the normal physiological phenomenon of the cervix. Experts say that for women who have not given birth, after these treatments, the cervix will harden, and when they become pregnant and give birth in the future, the cervix may not be easy to dilate, causing cervical dystocia.

If symptoms of "cervical erosion" are found during a physical examination, and there is an increase in leucorrhea or pus or an odor, as well as lower back pain, especially dull pain in the lumbar sacral area, and even pain during sexual intercourse, it may be a manifestation of cervicitis and should be treated promptly.

Timely treatment of acute cervicitis to prevent it from becoming chronic

"Acute cervicitis is easy to treat, but chronic cervicitis is difficult to treat. Acute cervicitis can usually be cured with medication in seven days, while chronic cervicitis requires physical therapy such as freezing and laser." Experts say that if you experience abnormal leucorrhea or pain in the lumbar region, you should seek medical attention in time to avoid the acute condition becoming chronic.

In addition, if "cervical erosion" is diagnosed during the physical examination, further screening for cervical cancer should be done. There are two ways to check for cervical cancer: taking cervical secretions, a simple cytology test, which costs about 30 yuan, but its false positive rate is about 20%; liquid-based cytology is more accurate and costs 200 yuan. At the same time, cervical cancer is the only cancer with a clear cause so far. It is caused by HPV virus infection. People who are infected with the virus do not necessarily get cervical cancer, but those who get cervical cancer are all infected with the virus. Therefore, in addition to cervical cell analysis, HPV virus testing is also required every few years.