Vulvar vestibulitis. Lack of evidence for a human papillomavirus etiology.

Prompted by contradictory papers on the subject, we performed a prospective study to assess the possible human papillomavirus (HPV) etiology of vulvar vestibulitis. Eleven patients with periglandular vestibulitis, as well as a control group of 11 patients with condylomata acuminata, were selected. Biopsy specimens were taken for histologic and virologic evaluation. One specimen of vestibulitis showed koilocytosis. Using the polymerase chain reaction, none of the vestibulitis specimens, including the one with koilocytosis, were found to harbor HPV DNA, whereas all the condylomata acuminata contained HPV 6/11 DNA. Our results do not support an HPV etiology of vestibulitis.