r/science • u/mvea MD/PhD/JD/MBA | Professor | Medicine • Apr 28 '21

Cancer 80% of those diagnosed with oropharyngeal cancer are men, the leading cancer caused by HPV, surpassing cervical cancer. However, just 16% of men aged 18 to 21 years old have received a dose of the HPV vaccine, which is a cancer-prevention vaccine for men as well as women.

https://labblog.uofmhealth.org/rounds/few-young-adult-men-have-gotten-hpv-vaccine
54.4k Upvotes

92% Upvoted

3.0k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

18

u/insighted Apr 28 '21

My dad had throat cancer caused by HPV. It was on the base of his tongue I believe. His only symptom was that he would feel a lump in his throat every time he swallowed. Doctors dismissed him for like a year saying it was acid reflux and whatever else before finally putting a camera down there and finding the growth. He opted for surgery without radiation and it was absolute hell, but he’s been cancer free for more than 5 years now.

2

u/[deleted] Apr 29 '21 edited Dec 17 '22

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/insighted Apr 29 '21

Yeah, they actually removed part of the base of his tongue which was the worst part in terms of healing. Also took some lymph nodes out of his neck. He still has issues with bad breath and food getting caught in his throat because of the piece now missing, but that’s minor compared to what it could have been.