Whats squamous metaplasia?

Benign / worrisome: Usually this is a pap smear finding. Metaplasia is replacement of a normal mature tissue type with another normal mature tissue type, in the cervix the columnar epithelium in the endocervix replaced by a squamous type. It is usually caused by the hpv virus and depending on the strain may present a slightly increased risk for progression toward something that is actually dangerous.