If you’ve just learned you have HPV, the most important thing to know is that the vast majority of infections clear on their own. About 66% of HPV infections clear within 12 months, and roughly 90% are gone within two years. What you need to do next depends on the type of HPV you have, whether it’s causing any changes to your cells, and your overall health picture.
Find Out What Type You Have
Not all HPV is the same. There are dozens of strains, and they fall into two broad categories that require very different responses.
Low-risk strains rarely cause cancer. Their main consequence is warts, which can appear on or around the genitals, anus, mouth, or throat. These are a cosmetic and comfort issue, not a cancer risk. High-risk strains are the ones that matter for cancer prevention. There are 12 high-risk types, and two of them, HPV 16 and HPV 18, are responsible for most HPV-related cancers. These strains don’t cause warts or any symptoms on their own. The danger comes only when an infection persists for many years and begins changing your cells.
Your test results or your doctor’s notes should tell you which category you fall into. If you tested positive for HPV 16 or 18 specifically, that triggers a faster follow-up timeline than other high-risk strains.
What Happens After a Positive Screening
If your HPV was detected through cervical cancer screening (a Pap test or HPV test), your next steps are determined by a combination of your current results and your screening history. For minor abnormalities with a low risk of serious cell changes, the standard recommendation is repeat testing in one year. Most of the time, the infection will have cleared by then.
If you tested positive for HPV 16 or 18, you’ll likely be referred for a colposcopy even if your Pap results looked normal. A colposcopy is a closer examination of the cervix using a magnifying instrument, often with a small tissue sample taken for analysis. It’s done in a clinic and takes only a few minutes. For higher-grade abnormalities, especially with HPV 16, treatment may be recommended without waiting for additional biopsies.
The key point: a positive HPV result is not a cancer diagnosis. It’s the entry point into a monitoring process designed to catch cell changes long before they ever become cancer.
Treating Genital Warts
If your HPV has produced genital warts, several treatments can remove them. First-line options you can apply at home include prescription creams like imiquimod, podophyllotoxin, or sinecatechins. These work by either stimulating your immune response against the virus or destroying the wart tissue directly.
For in-office treatment, cryotherapy (freezing with liquid nitrogen) is the most common approach. It involves two to three freeze-thaw cycles per session, repeated every two to three weeks. There’s no benefit to continuing cryotherapy beyond three months if it hasn’t worked by then. Removing warts doesn’t eliminate the virus itself, but it does reduce symptoms and can lower the chance of passing it to a partner.
Treating Precancerous Cell Changes
If monitoring reveals that a persistent high-risk HPV infection has caused precancerous changes on your cervix (called dysplasia), the most common treatment is a procedure called LEEP. A thin heated wire loop removes a layer of abnormal cells from the cervix’s surface. The whole thing takes about 20 minutes, and you can typically return to work or school within one to two days.
Full healing takes four to six weeks. During that time, you’ll need to avoid sex, tampons, baths, and swimming. Exercise should be limited for at least the first week. The removed tissue is tested to confirm the extent of the abnormality, and follow-up screening continues afterward to make sure the changes don’t return. LEEP is highly effective and treats the problem well before it could progress to cancer.
HPV Beyond the Cervix
HPV can cause six types of cancer: cervical, anal, oropharyngeal (back of the throat and base of the tongue), penile, vaginal, and vulvar. This means HPV is relevant regardless of your gender or anatomy.
Oropharyngeal cancers from HPV typically start as a small lump in the tonsils or at the base of the tongue, making them hard to spot early. As the disease progresses, symptoms can include a persistent sore throat, trouble swallowing, a lump in the neck, hoarseness, ear pain, or unexplained weight loss. There’s currently no routine screening test for oral HPV; most cases are found during dental or medical exams or after symptoms develop. If any of these symptoms last longer than two weeks, get them checked.
There’s also no standard screening for anal HPV in the general population, though some providers offer anal Pap tests for people at higher risk.
Condoms, Partners, and Transmission
HPV spreads through skin-to-skin contact, not just through intercourse. Condoms help significantly but don’t eliminate the risk entirely because the virus can live on skin that condoms don’t cover. In one large study, women whose partners used condoms every time had a 70% lower risk of acquiring HPV compared to women whose partners rarely used them. Consistent use at least half the time still cut the risk by about 50%.
If you’re in a relationship, your partner has very likely already been exposed to the same strain. HPV is extraordinarily common, and most sexually active people will have it at some point. There’s no approved HPV test for men that screens for the virus itself (only for its consequences, like warts or abnormal cells). Disclosure is a personal decision, but knowing you have HPV doesn’t change your partner’s medical care in most cases, since there’s no treatment for the virus itself.
Whether the Vaccine Still Helps
If you already have HPV, the vaccine won’t treat your current infection or help your body clear it faster. But it can still protect you against other strains you haven’t been exposed to yet. The current vaccine covers nine HPV types, including the highest-risk ones. Clinical trials have confirmed that the vaccine is effective against any strain the recipient isn’t already carrying at the time of vaccination.
You don’t need any testing before getting vaccinated. The CDC recommends routine HPV vaccination through age 26 and supports shared decision-making about vaccination for adults 27 through 45 who haven’t been adequately vaccinated.
What Helps Your Body Clear the Virus
Since your immune system is the primary tool for eliminating HPV, supporting it matters. The single most impactful thing you can do is quit smoking if you smoke. Tobacco smoke doesn’t just weaken the immune response to HPV; it actively makes the virus more dangerous. Research has shown that tobacco exposure increases the activity of HPV’s cancer-promoting proteins in cervical cells and lowers HPV antibody levels, making both current infections harder to fight and future infections more likely.
Beyond smoking, the usual foundations of immune health apply: adequate sleep, regular physical activity, managing stress, and a diet rich in fruits and vegetables. None of these are a cure, but they support the immune processes that clear HPV in the vast majority of people. There are no supplements or alternative treatments proven to eliminate HPV.
HPV and Pregnancy
HPV doesn’t prevent you from getting pregnant or carrying a pregnancy to term, but persistent infections can increase certain risks. Chronic inflammation from HPV in the cervix has been linked to higher rates of miscarriage, premature birth, and restricted fetal growth. Pregnancy also naturally suppresses parts of the immune system (to protect the fetus from rejection), which can make it harder for your body to clear the virus during those nine months.
The virus can be transmitted to the baby during vaginal delivery through contact with active lesions. Vertical transmission rates vary widely, from 5% to 72%, depending on the HPV type and viral load. In rare cases, infected newborns can develop a condition called recurrent respiratory papillomatosis, where warts grow in the airway. Treatment of high-grade cervical lesions during pregnancy is possible but carefully weighed against the risk of obstetric complications. If you’re planning a pregnancy and have HPV, your provider can help you decide whether to treat or monitor before conceiving.