Photo: (MTV)
Last night on "Savage U," Dan hit up Rhodes College, a small university in Memphis. The campus consists of less than 2,000 students so guys and girls find it really tough to avoid dating their friends' exes. One of the students Dan met is scared to date altogether, but not because of jealous BFF's. Allison has been through a lot since she was diagnosed with HPV in high school. Watch her story below at 13:30.
+ Deets
When she was 16, Allison found out she had HPV through a routine pap smear and visit to her gynecologist. She had several related medical procedures to deal with some abnormal cells caused by the HPV. It's been a tough road and Allison has had a lot of feelings of fear and depression along the way. "I just felt kind of alone through it all," she said.
+The (SEX)perts Weigh In:
After listening to Allison share her story, we kinda want her as our new BFF. This chick seems so level-headed and cool, not to mention more responsible than some people twice her age!
"I wanted [the HPV] to be out of sight, out of mind. I wasn't having any symptoms so it would have been easier to just pretend like it wasn't there," she said. But she DIDN'T: she followed her doctor's recommendations, got treatment for the abnormal cells, and is now happy and healthy.
She is also talking about her diagnosis openly, and why shouldn't she? HPV is nothing to be embarrassed about, it is incredibly common. More than 50% of sexually active people will get it at some point during their lives and most people who have HPV will never know they have it. As Dan says, "It's the common cold of sexually transmitted infections."
Of course we know HPV is no fun: it can cause genital warts, and a small percentage of cases do have more serious health consequences, like cervical cancer. That's why women need to get regular screenings at their gynecologists, just to be safe. The good news is that cervical cancer is the easiest cancer to prevent with regular screenings, so it can be caught early before it develops, just like in Allison's case.
It's important to do what you can to protect yourself against HPV, but also to understand that most cases are mild. About 90% of cases are cleared from the body naturally within a few years.
As for the dating game, Dan said Allison needs to get back out there and let herself like someone again. "It's scary, but you're going to have to get back on the bike," he said.
+What You Can Do
Get vaccinated: Getting vaccinated is the best way to protect yourself from HPV infection. There are vaccines that can help protect both guys and girls from some of the more common types of HPV that can lead to disease or cancer. The vaccine is given in three shots and it's important to get ALL THREE. The HPV vaccine is recommended for teens and women up to age 26, men up to 21. Get more info on the vaccine here.
Use Condoms: If you're having sex, use a condom each and every time. Condoms can lower your risk of getting STDs including HPV. But know that HPV can also infect areas that aren't covered by a condom so the surest way to avoid getting an STD is to not have sex at all.
Get regular screening: Women who are sexually active or 21 or older should get regular pap smears, which help detect cell changes caused by HPV that might develop into cancer if they aren't treated. There is an HPV test for women, but it is not common and the best way to get screened is a regular pap smear. Currently there is no HPV test recommended for men.
For more information on sexual health visit It's Your Sex Life and enjoy some of our favorite Dan-isms of the night below:
Dan's fascination with Shake Weights: "I've never seen one of those in the wild!"
Dan's take on jealous ex-girlfriends: "You didn't steal her car, she doesn't own that boy."
Dan on getting over embarrassment about periods: "It's a vagina -- blood falls out of it once a month."
Best uplifting advice of the night: "You should do what you want to do and you shouldn't worry about other people's judgment"
