HPV vaccinated but now had HPV positive result

Hi, I am new to this forum. I am 28 and had my second smear recently. I had the HPV vaccine when I was at school aged 16(ish) . My year group was the first cohort to get the vaccine. My smear results came back that I was HPV with high grade diskaryosis. I had a colposcopy and LLETZ procedure yesterday and obviously asked how it’s possible that I have HPV despite the vaccine. I was told they are seeing a lot of women my age coming through that have been vaccinated yet still have contracted HPV. She said they have recently changed the vaccine and that we were “the ginuea pig generation” which obviously I didn’t find very comforting. (I just want to stress that I am very pro vaccine, so I am not trying to slate the vaccine, I am just wanting to understand a bit more.)
I am currently waiting for my results, so fingers crossed the LLETZ procedure got rid of everything but I am confused about the future. Has anyone else experienced this?

Hello no I have not experience this because I am older and I didn’t get the chance to get the vaccine as a teenager but after my Lletz treatment I had the vaccine advice by my doctor .Maybe you could get the new vaccine . I read somewhere that the vaccine last for 10 years but they are actually not sure how long protection last for. Hope you recover soon from the Lletz take care and good luck.

Hello :slight_smile: im 32 and was not vaccinated- also pro vaccine I was just naive and not sexually active until I met my now husband in my early 20’s so when the vaccine was first being administered I saw no need for myself to get it- now looking back I obviously wish I would’ve done it anyways.

However, I have 2 close girlfriends who were vaccinated and ended up with HPV as well. They were both told by their Gyno’s that the vaccine is like any other, it helps but is not a guarantee that you will def not contract it. The have both had LEEP procedures, as have I, and we all got clear margins. Its pretty common that most people are able to get it all on the first go I believe.

I’m sorry you are going through this, but this forum is full of great women with similar experiences that offer amazing advice! I hope you get your results soon and that they are great!

Hi, thanks for replying! Yeah I guess vaccines are never 100% effective. Hope all is well with you.

Thank you for replying. Yeah I feel like HPV and the vaccine isn’t really spoken about much in the public domain so we just don’t know much about it! Hope you and your friends are all okay.

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Where I am I feel like HPV isn’t openly talked about. I knew what it was but when I was told at my last Pap smear that I had it I was devastated. Almost felt ashamed like “I’ve only slept with one person how could I have this” sort of deal. Which I now know is irrelevant lol but it’s SO COMMON I wonder why it isn’t discussed more?

I am doing great, my procedure was 8 weeks ago yesterday. Recovery was good for me minus the first week, I started my period 2-3 days after my LEEP and it made me bleed excessively and was pretty scary which I wasn’t told could happen until I was going through it. Apparently the stress on my body from the procedure made my body/cycle kinda go into shock. Other than that I’ve been great! How are you so far?

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totally agree, i wouldn’t have gone so crazy obsessing over my results for months if i had even the slightest inkling about it all… it annoys me it isn’t taught or talked about
it was such a shock as a result, don’t think i even knew what the smear test was for just that you should go haha

Lol! Well for many years I had no idea either, no one mentioned HPV. I only went because where live you had to have a yearly Pap smear in order for fill your yearly prescription for birth control pills. So I went simply for that reason. Being told I had HPV was so startling, I’ve only been with my husband so everything I thought I knew about HPV was wrong, I had a lot to learn and wish someone would’ve taught me about it when I was much younger!

This happened to me, I must be a similar age to you as I was also in the first cohort to be vaccinated at school.
I had CIN2 and had my LLETZ on Tuesday and am now waiting for my results too.
Apparently, any sort of sexual activity before you get the vaccine can make it ineffective which is why they now vaccinate so young

I also have hpv despite the vaccine, depending on how old you are the first vaccine only covers two strains so not that useful - i caught on of the other strains

I had the HPV vaccine when I was younger and was diagnosed with cervical cancer 5 years ago. I had 2 rounds of the LLETZ treatment to remove the cancer and as far as I’m aware the cancer hasn’t returned. I feel like we were the guinea pigs as the vaccine was a fairly new thing back then. I hope your treatment has been successful.

Hey, I had the vaccine and also on to my second smear results being positive for HPV but no warts etc if that makes sense at all. I always get asked if I had the vaccine and when I say yeah they say “oh you’ll be fine then”, evidently not haha.

My first was high grade severe cell changes (CIN3) and my second results have said I just have cell changes not sure what cin tho, I’m at colposcopy tomorrow and I’m extremely anxious having to do it again. After three years alot of questions I want answering now :confused:. The last doctor told me if I wanted children to think about it in the next three years because if I had to do treatment again I’ll be prone to miscarrying, forever played on my mind since and I sobbed when I got my results back this time round from shock.

Hope you’re feeling okay after your treatment? :blush:

Hello, I was just wondering if you were sexually active before the vaccine and therefore could have caught the virus then? I think it can lie dormant for a long time sometimes. Apologies if not though - just one thought I had, but obviously vaccines aren’t 100% effective anyway. Hope all goes well with your treatment, it should all be sorted now xxx

Hi,

I had the cervarix vaccine (covers HPV16/18) at age 16 prior to having any sexual activity, I have also had several years of abnormal smears and treatments I even took the second vaccine gardesil 9 to try and help. I eventually got tested privately to see what strain I had - sadly I have HPV51 not covered by either of the vaccines. :frowning:

have you had treatment for the cells?

Hi

Yes I have my story is a little complicated, I’ve had CIN1 on a LLETZ biopsy have persistent high grade smears and VAIN which is really rare and hard to treat.

I’ve found it all really hard