Genital warts

 Human papillomavirus (HPV) causes several sexually transmitted diseases to occur like Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, and genital warts. The only way to avoid genital warts is to remain abstinent or limit your sexual partners and make sure they do not have any STDs (sexually transmitted diseases). It can take years for genital warts to completely heal and they can be passed onto an unborn child that a woman is carrying. Genital warts tend to look like small clusters of raised or flat bumps. On a female they will collect around your vagina or on the cervix. On a male they will gather on the penis, groin, scrotum sac, and on their thighs.

The thing that makes genital warts dangerous is that they do not tend to hurt so many people do not think it is a problem to engage in sexual intercourse if they or their partner has genital warts. It might even take months or years for genital warts to appear before you notice you actually have them. What makes genital warts dangerous is that they can become cancerous if they are left untreated.

Genital warts are only passed through skin to skin contact. Oral sex and vaginal or anal sex will spread genital warts from the host to the other person. Females under the age of 26 and older than 9 years of age can receive an injection to prevent HPV infections cervical cancer.

Sometimes people do not know they have genital warts because it may be inside the urethra on a male and inside the cervix on a female. Regular health screenings will test for genital warts and other sexually transmitted diseases. It is also important to let all of your past, current, and future sexual partners know that you have had genital warts. Even if you do not have any current symptoms, you still carry HPV and you can pass it to any of your sexual partners. You also have a 30% chance of re-developing genital warts if you have had them at least once. HPV causes over 30 different types of genital warts so you need to have regular screening to test for cancer.

 Females are also prone to developing genital warts during pregnancy. Of course you must have already been infected with HPV in order to re-develop genital warts. Once the baby is born, most people see an immediate decrease in genital warts and they disappear.

So what can you do about genital warts? The best thing you can do is to meet with your doctor to discuss treatment options. Typically they will recommend using podophyllotoxin, imiquimod, or cryotherapy.

Podophyllotoxin is one of the most common treatments for genital warts. This is available from your doctor as a cream or a liquid that must be directly applied to the genital warts for about 4-5 weeks. The liquid or cream must come in direct contact with the genital warts 2 times a day with only a 4 day break until the genital warts completely disappear. Each time you apply the cream it may cause a burning feeling and the skin may become red.

Imiquimod is a stronger cream that will help genital warts to disappear. You must apply imiquimod 3 times a week before bedtime to allow it to sit on the warts for 8 straight hours. Usually you will need to use imiquimod for 8-16 weeks in order for it to properly work. Like podophyllotoxin you may have a burning feeling and redness of the skin when you apply the cream.

Cryotherapy involved freezing off the genital warts. This process is commonly used on other warts on the body. Depending upon the location of your genital warts, you may not be able to use cryotherapy to treat your genital warts.