Laser Ablation has even fewer side-effects than the LEEP.

There are no immediate after effects. You are a little sore and there is a little blood. You can even have the procedure while you are pregnant. Most women can have it done and go back to work the same day after taking some ibuprofin.

I can’t give you statistics. HPV has too many different forms for me to know the intricacies of your daughter’s case. Besides, life is not a lottery. Your daughter has to live with risk like everyone else on the planet. That doesn’t make living fully any less worthwhile.

That said, this is not rare or unique. To quote the nurse at the Catholic hospital where I was treated, “Anyone whose anyone has had HPV.”

I can tell you Laser ablation is probably the least invasive method and it will not impact her ability to get pregnant or carry a baby to term.

She will just need to be watched a little more carefully especially if she has twins or if there is a family history of premature birth. That said, I had full-term 10 and 8 pound children after I had the LEEP which is said to thin the cervix more than laser ablation.

As for the lesions returning, well, that’s pretty much lifestyle and luck. If she smokes, she should stop. If she doesn’t eat whole grains and between 5 and 10 servings of fruit and vegetables a day, she should start. If she doesn’t exercise, she should start.

My point is, this is pre-cancer. It is not the big C. She will have a 20 minute procedure and it will be over.

If the lesions come back in three or four years, she can have the same procedure again if she needs to, but they’ll test her every six months and she probably won’t need to. HPV is a slow-moving thing and if she is being watched they will find it.

If they come back a third time, then there are more serious treatments, but she is not at that point and it probably won’t happen in the next twenty years.

Please try your best to support your daughter and keep your own worries in check. She needs her strength to get through this stressful time and you can help by being there and listening.

But, as far as this treatment goes, it’s less painful than root canal and normal life resumes immediately.

Here via the carnival of pregnancy.