Is cervical erosion a serious disease? The doctor tells you what cervical erosion is

The cervix is ​​a part of the female reproductive organ and is a high-incidence area for diseases, including developmental abnormalities, inflammation, and even benign and malignant tumors. Cervical inflammation can be divided into acute cervicitis and chronic cervicitis. Common chronic cervicitis has many types in pathology, including erosion, polyps, hypertrophy, Nabothian cysts, and endocervical mucositis. There are many misunderstandings about "cervical erosion".

For profit-making purposes, some medical institutions describe the process of cervical columnar epithelium growing outward to replace the squamous epithelium (the so-called erosion) as a precancerous lesion or even cervical cancer. Over-treatment of these so-called precancerous lesions has resulted in misdiagnosis and mistreatment that seriously affect women's physical and mental health.

According to today's view, the term "cervical erosion" is problematic. The cervical epithelium is turned outward, and the part looks red and congested. It has long been mistaken for erosion. In fact, it is a normal physiological phenomenon in newborn girls and women from puberty to menopause.

This is mainly because the estrogen level in the human body is high at this stage, which promotes the columnar epithelium in the cervical canal to grow toward the external cervical opening, rather than true cervical erosion. The cervix of a female fetus in the mother's womb or a female baby in the first few days after birth also has "erosion" (eversion or outward migration of the columnar epithelium), which is mainly due to the influence of maternal estrogen, causing the cervical columnar epithelium to grow outward to replace the squamous epithelium, also known as congenital cervical "erosion".

A few days after the baby girl is born, the estrogen level in her body drops and returns to normal, and the cervix becomes smooth. In women of childbearing age, the ovaries are active and the estrogen increases, so the columnar epithelium in the cervical canal moves outward and replaces the squamous epithelium in the cervix, which can easily lead to "erosion". Before puberty and during menopause, the estrogen level in women is low, so "erosion" is rare.

Since it is a physiological reaction, as long as there is no local inflammation and the leucorrhea is normal, the local appearance is clean and the scope is not large, there is no human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, and there is no abnormal bleeding, no treatment is needed, just regular observation is enough. If the cervical secretions are excessive and abnormal, and the lesion range is large, local vaginal medication can generally be used first, and physical therapy such as microwave, laser, freezing, electrocautery, etc. can be used if necessary.