Treatments for HPV disease 

Treatments range from watchful waiting, to excision or ablation.

Ablation can be by cautery, laser or even freezing, and excision can be done in various ways as well. Some excisions need to go deep and include the cervical canal, if disease is present there, and these are called "cone biopsies". Those that are more shallow than that are done with a wire loop are called " loop electrical excision procedures " or LEEPs, for short.

Of course, these treatments have some possible side effects. All of them scar the cervix from one degree to another. The excisional procedures shorten the cervix to some extent, and this has implications for pregnancy. It can either make the cervix too tight (stenotic), making it difficult to become pregnant, or make the cervix too loose (incompetent), predisposing the patient to miscarry. These complications take place in a small minority of patients, and for the most part the treatments are safe and effective.