What are the early symptoms of female cervical erosion? Is female cervical erosion cervicitis?

Cervical erosion is a common gynecological disease and a type of chronic cervicitis, which is more common in women of childbearing age. However, there are differences in symptoms between cervical erosion and cervicitis. So, what are the main symptoms of cervicitis and cervical erosion in the early stage? How to distinguish between cervical erosion and cervicitis?

What are the early symptoms of cervical erosion?

1. Increased vaginal discharge: This phenomenon is the most representative symptom of cervical erosion. Generally, when the disease occurs, the vaginal discharge is milky white or light yellow purulent secretions, and sometimes bleeding and bloody phenomena may occur.

2. Itching and pain in the vulva: Since the increase of leucorrhea will irritate the vulva and vagina, it will cause women to suffer from vulvitis or vaginitis, causing patients to feel very itchy and painful in the vulva and vagina.

3. Pain in the lower abdomen and lumbosacral region: When the inflammation is very severe, it will spread along the uterosacral ligament and cardinal ligament, leading to pelvic connective tissue inflammation and eventually causing pain in the lower abdomen or lumbosacral region, as well as a feeling of falling.

4. Frequent urination or difficulty urinating: When the inflammation involves the trigone or surrounding area of ​​the bladder, frequent urination or difficulty urinating will occur.

5. Infertility: When a woman has very sticky leucorrhea, sperm cannot penetrate it, thus causing cervicitis and making it impossible to get pregnant.

Cervical erosion is not equal to cervicitis

In the physical examination reports, many women have different degrees of "cervical erosion". In the outpatient clinic, many women come to seek medical treatment due to cervical erosion. The word "erosion" easily makes people think of inflammation, decay, and necrosis. If the cervix is ​​eroded, how serious it is. Due to some incorrect popular science propaganda, some women are often too nervous and eager to seek treatment after learning that they have cervical erosion. So, is cervical erosion really as terrible as we imagine? How to interpret the "cervical erosion" on the physical examination report?

The normal cervix can be divided into the inner and outer os. The surface of the outer os of the cervix is ​​a layer of squamous epithelium, which is smooth and pink. The inner os of the cervix is ​​covered by a thin red columnar epithelial cell that can secrete mucus. In clinical practice, some doctors call the fine granular red area around the outer os of the cervix "cervical erosion". In fact, real "cervical erosion" is rare in clinical practice. Most of the "cervical erosion" we usually call it is pseudo-erosion. This is because when women of childbearing age are affected by hormones, the columnar epithelium in the cervical canal will proliferate and move outward. Because the columnar epithelium is very thin, it makes the capillaries and red stroma underneath appear, and there is a clear boundary with the surrounding squamous epithelium. It looks very much like erosion to the naked eye, but in fact it is not true inflammatory erosion, but the ectopic migration of the cervical columnar epithelium to the outside of the cervical os. It is a physiological change under the action of estrogen. It can be divided into mild, moderate and severe according to the size of the erosion surface.

When cervical erosion is found during a physical examination, it is best to go to a regular hospital for a cervical cytology examination. After excluding the possibility of cervical cancer and cervical intraepithelial neoplasia, generally no special treatment is required for asymptomatic cervical erosion to avoid overtreatment. It is worth reminding that some women think that a smooth cervix is ​​fine. In fact, just like cervical erosion is not necessarily a problem, a smooth cervix does not mean that the cervix has no disease. Some cervical precancerous lesions or deeper cervical cancers can also appear smooth. Therefore, regular physical examinations, especially cervical disease screening, are very important. In addition, there are terms such as "cervical hypertrophy" and "cervical nabothian cysts" in cervical examinations. These are mostly manifestations after childbirth, and most do not require treatment or panic. Regular cervical screening is enough.