There was an African village chief who had 3 wives. He loved his wives very much. One day, many years ago, I went on a medical mission to his village and after the medical mission, I paid him a courtesy visit. He requested a full medical examination. I found nothing abnormal except a fleshy growth around the tip of his penis. I told him he had genital warts and that he would be putting his four wives at risk of cancer of the cervix if he did not remove it. He said the penile wart didn’t bother him neither did it bother his wives. The wives agreed.
Over the space of ten years, one by one the women developed cancer of the cervix and died. The chief survived them all.
Cancer of the cervix is one of the preventable cancers. A regular three yearly PAP smear could have saved the chief’s wives but that was not available in this rural setting.
But there are simple things you can do as a woman that could help you prevent cervical cancer.
Always look at the penis before you put it in your vagina, mouth or any other area you choose.
Why not?
You look at food before you eat and water before you drink so why should this be different?
Am not suggesting you be dramatic about it. I can imagine someone after reading this post tell her partner ‘hey there stop! Proceed for penile inspection!
Well if your partner has a good sense of humor, why not? But realistically you might want to stylishly and respectively check the penis that will enter you for any skin abnormalities. Most men probably don’t inspect their penises anyway.
Warts may be fleshy and pedunculated, but they may also be flat, like extra flesh stamped on the penis.
While you are at it, you might want to make sure there is no offensive discharge coming from the hole on the tip of the penis. You will be shocked at the increase in the rate of throat gonorrhea from oral sex on penises that had gonorrhea.
The normal penile (pre-ejaculate) secretion is thin, slimy and has no offensive smell.
Apart from the above, there are other risk factors you might want to consider that will protect you from getting cancer of the cervix.
- The earlier the age that you started having sex the more at risk you are especially if less than 18 years.
- Having multiple sexual partners puts you at risk of getting cancer of the cervix.
- The use of oral birth control pills.
- Smoking will get you most cancers and cancer of the cervix is one of them.
Please take note that without penile penetration you can still get the wart infection as long as there is skin to skin contact.
Screening for Cancer of the cervix
This is done via a PAP smear and this is available in most places. You should have one three years after you start having sex or after age 21, whichever is first and subsequently every three years after.
There is also a vaccine that is now available to prevent cancer of the cervix. Gardasil vaccinations are given as a series of 3 shots over 6 months in boys and girls between 9-26 years.
In developed countries, there are also genetic tests that can be done to check if you are likely to develop cancer of the cervix. These tests do not replace the PAP smear but can be an adjunct to your care.
To the ladies, i would suggest that ‘look before you leap’ is a phrase that you should remember whenever you see a penis!
