Four years ago when I was Dx'ed almost everyone was tobacco related. When I found out I was
HPV+ it seemed like we started to see more and more come to the site that way. Then about 2 years ago we began to see a few much younger people come here who were non smokers but their cancer was in the forward part of the tongue and they tested negative for
HPV so now it seems we have 3 groups, 1.
HPV+, 2. Tobacco related
HPV- and 3. Non tobacco related
HPV-.
HPV+ SCC has proven to be easier to kill and therefore less chance of recurrence while both
HPV- types are typically the opposite.