A 2010 study headed by Margaret R. Karagas looked at 16 genus β human papillomavirus types to see if there was a correlation between those HPV types and the development of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma. And as it turns out, certain types of HPV can increase your risk for skin cancer. This is not new knowledge, but it isn't widely known, either. It's definitely worth pointing out, because skin cancer is the most common cancer in the United States.
In addition to this link between HPV and skin cancer, the research "found a clear increasing trend in risk of squamous cell carcinoma with increasing number of human papillomavirus types positive." In other words, while one type of HPV is enough to increase your risk, the more types of HPV you have, the greater your risk.
The study also showed "a stronger association between HPV and squamous cell carcinoma among patients with a sun sensitive phenotype." So if you've got fair skin and light colored eyes (read: you sunburn easily), for example, your risk is even higher.
Really, the only good news is that even more about this should be known in the future: Karagas plans on further study to investigate whether HPV types beyond genus β are associated with nonmelanoma skin cancers.
