Is cervicitis serious?

Cervicitis can lead to cervical erosion, which is a common gynecological disease. According to the degree of harm caused by cervical erosion, it can be divided into three levels. First degree cervicitis means that the symptoms are relatively mild. During this period, good treatment must be carried out in time to avoid worsening of the symptoms. Generally speaking, mild cervical erosion will not affect pregnancy, but if it is more serious, it will cause infertility in women.

Is cervicitis serious?

Cervical erosion is a cervical disease that is common in women of childbearing age and is the most common clinical manifestation of chronic cervicitis. Depending on the size of the erosion surface, it is divided into mild cervical erosion, moderate cervical erosion, and severe cervical erosion. Depending on the depth and shape of the erosion surface, it can be divided into simple type, granular type, and papillary type.

Mild cervical erosion is not very serious, but patients with long-term and severe cervical erosion have a higher incidence of cervical prelesions and cervical cancer; the naked eye cannot distinguish whether it is erosion or prelesions and early stages. Therefore, it is not enough for patients to undergo only routine gynecological examinations. They should undergo TCT examinations at the same time as their gynecological examinations once a year.

Mild cervical erosion usually does not affect conception because the inflammation is relatively mild. However, in cases of moderate to severe cervical erosion, especially severe cases, the inflammatory changes are serious and the leucorrhea is often purulent and very viscous. Inflammatory leucorrhea can inhibit or kill sperm, and the thick cervical mucus can prevent sperm from passing through the cervical canal, therefore affecting conception. When the inflammation spreads along the uterosacral ligament to the pelvic cavity and affects the fallopian tubes, it can also lead to inflammatory adhesions of the fallopian tubes, affecting the fertilization process and causing infertility. Therefore, patients with more severe cervical erosion, even women who have not yet given birth, need timely treatment. This is not only related to the long-term severe inflammatory stimulation that may cause cervical erosion, but also to whether the patient can successfully conceive.

Those with cervical erosion-like changes can be diagnosed through cervical cytology examination and human papillomavirus (HPV) testing. Those with congestion and edema need to undergo infection-related examinations. If necessary, colposcopy and biopsy should be performed to rule out the possibility of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia or cervical cancer.

Cervical erosion is not a true erosion caused by pathological epithelial ulcers and loss. It is inappropriate to use "cervical erosion" as a diagnostic term for chronic cervical inflammation. Physiological columnar epithelial ectopia is more common in adolescence, women of childbearing age with high estrogen secretion, those taking oral contraceptives or during pregnancy. Due to the effect of estrogen, the squamous junction moves outward and the cervix locally changes in appearance to an erosive appearance. In addition, cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and early cervical cancer can also cause erosive changes in the cervix.

Will cervical erosion affect pregnancy?

Cervical erosion is a normal physiological phenomenon, so cervical erosion will not affect pregnancy. "Cervical erosion" has no special clinical manifestations and generally does not require special treatment. Unnecessary treatment may also cause additional harm to the body, such as adhesion or occlusion of the external cervical os, trauma leading to cervical inflammation or cervical endometriosis, and impaired cervical function causing miscarriage or premature birth during pregnancy.

However, some diseases such as cervical cancer, precancerous lesions, cervicitis, etc. may cause cervical erosion-like changes. Therefore, if cervical erosion-like changes are found during clinical examination, cytology examination should be performed. We should neither blindly treat "cervical erosion" nor delay treatment by ignoring the examination for cervical cancer and cervicitis because we think that "cervical erosion" is a normal physiological change.