Women with cervical erosion are not sick. Is it necessary to check for cervical erosion?

Is it necessary to check for cervical erosion? Cervical erosion is actually a misunderstanding of a normal cervical manifestation in the past. Nowadays, it is replaced by the physiological phenomenon of "cervical columnar epithelium ectopia" in academia. Since cervical erosion is not a disease, is it necessary to go to the hospital for examination? Let's learn about it together today.

Does cervical erosion require regular check-ups?

Regular cervical examination is necessary, not to prevent cervical erosion, but to prevent cervical cancer.

What is cervical erosion?

There are two different types of cells in the cervix, the ones near the vagina are squamous cells, and the ones near the uterus are columnar cells. The two types of epithelial cells are different in appearance. The central part, which looks a bit like "eroded" cervix, is the appearance after being covered by columnar epithelium, while the relatively smooth outer part of the cervix is ​​the part of the cervix covered by squamous epithelial cells.

Before puberty, women's ovarian function is not perfect, estrogen is low, and the columnar epithelium is closer to the inside. After menstruation, the columnar epithelium is affected by estrogen and develops more to the outside. Therefore, more columnar epithelium similar to "erosion" is found during cervical examination. After menopause, women's estrogen levels drop, and the columnar epithelium begins to retreat to the inside. At this time, the "erosion" is no longer visible during examination. Therefore, in essence, the so-called cervical erosion is actually the eversion of the columnar epithelium.

Is cervical erosion serious?

The so-called first-degree, second-degree, and third-degree cervical erosion in medical textbooks in the past are easy to understand if you look at the real mechanism of "cervical erosion" mentioned above. This is actually the different degrees of eversion of the columnar epithelium after being affected by estrogen, which is a normal physiological phenomenon.

Does cervical erosion need treatment? How to treat it?

Cervical columnar epithelial ectopia does not require any treatment. Many current methods for treating cervical erosion are wrong. However, symptomatic cervicitis does need to be treated. Acute inflammation is treated with suppositories, and chronic inflammation can be treated with physical therapy such as laser or freezing.

Will it develop into cancer if left untreated?

The occurrence of cervical cancer is related to infection with human papillomavirus (HpV). Some so-called high-risk types of HPV are prone to precancerous lesions and cervical cancer when they continue to infect the squamous-columnar junction of the cervix. Since the advent of cervical smears, the mortality rate of cervical cancer has dropped significantly. The key is early prevention and treatment. It is currently recommended that women over the age of 21 should undergo a cervical smear examination once a year. After the age of 30, an HPV examination can be combined. If the HPV and cervical smear tests are negative for three consecutive times, the interval can be extended to once every three years, and screening can be stopped after the age of 65.