About the VELscope without endorsing anything.... This is a device that finds loss of fluorescence in cells. There are many reasons for that. Some of them are cancer, some are bacterial, fungal, or viral infections, some are from trauma. IT IS A MULTI-USE DEVICE THAT IS NOT SPECIFIC FOR CANCER. So those are not false readings, they are readings that require someone who is using it to interpret.

Oral cancer diagnosis is preceeded by DISCOVERY by someone of an abnormality. Whether this is done with a eyeball and wet finger exam, a device that looks for loss of fluorescence, or whatever; no discovery of suspect tissue = no diagnosis. Additional tools which compliment the mark one eyeball we were all issued with, are additional data points that an examiner can use to decide if what they have found is worthy of further exploration. There are many data points that lead to that decision making and possibly differential diagnosis. Some of them are color changes in the tissue, texture change in the tissue, loss of fluorescence, loss of heterozygocity, ploidy of cells, presence of certain protein markers, presence of certain RNA markers etc. Oral cancer discovery and diagnosis is not accomplished by devices, it is accomplished by educated observers whose discovery process leads to the gold standard biopsy for confirmation. Are some devices and data points more indicative than others, yes, but they are all used in a synergistic manner to make decisions. No ancillary device by itself is worth anything if wielded by someone that does not know what they are looking at. Dr. W's point is what we are all talking about - get an exam from a competent professional. The rest of this discussion you are driving on the forums is a mute point until you know something basic about your own situation, and that something is not going to come from internet discussion forums.

Re-reading the previous post about false positives and negatives prompted this reply. But since you have stated it in your post, please tell me where you read about any false NEGATIVE with a device like the VELSCOPE. I would like to read the source of this comment. If it is based on your opinion - like your previous statements about how many women vs men have oral sex with the opposite sex, (which you pulled out of some dark place) I would like to say that I think that discussions based on facts serve a purpose. When they are scattered with unsubstantiated opinion they begin to fall into the realm of -why should anyone waste the time to reply?

For the last time, get a diagnosis from someone competent to give you one. The board is not designed for academic discussions, but to help people that are having a problem. When you have defined that you actually have an oral cancer related problem, I believe that you will find people here very helpful. But this continuous dialog about the what if's of HPV is becoming non productive, time consuming, and is outside the purpose of the forum.