Visit your medical professional for more information on the HPV virus, genital warts, and to be tested for HPV and other sexually transmitted diseases. Only a doctor can properly diagnose you with genital warts, and offer professional advice. The information we are providing is not meant to substitute a visit to your healthcare provider, or to be taken as medical advice.
I was like everyone else- tired of the itching, redness, irritation and embarrassment that accompany warts. When I found that Terrasil I knew I had to get it. After a few applications, the warts began to shrink. I break out in these bumps whenever I get stressed out. Most of my outbreaks occur on my butt area. Thank God for Terrasil.*
“The warts returned after a year, but instead of going back to the clinic I listened to my mom who said she didn’t believe it was that serious and that I should consult a sangoma first’. The sangoma claimed to cure warts. I immediately started using the traditional medicine as she instructed, but my warts got worst and I was never cured.”
Plantar warts can develop on any part of the foot. As the callus and wart get larger, walking can become painful, much like walking with a pebble in your shoe. When pressure from standing or walking pushes a plantar wart beneath the skin’s surface, a layer of thick, tough skin similar to a callus develops over it. Sometimes dark specks are visible beneath the surface of the wart.
Genital warts usually appear as a small bump or group of bumps in the genital area. They can be small or large, raised or flat, or shaped like a cauliflower. A healthcare provider can usually diagnose warts by looking at the genital area.
Gardasil 6 is an HPV vaccine aimed at preventing cervical cancers and genital warts. Gardasil is designed to prevent infection with HPV types 16, 18, 6, and 11. HPV types 16 and 18 currently cause about 70% of cervical cancer cases,[11][12] and also cause some vulvar, vaginal,[9] penile and anal cancers.[10] HPV types 6 and 11 are responsible for 90% of documented cases of genital warts.[14]
You must follow the instructions of your doctor when using it. It usually comes in sachets so that you don’t use too much of it, but be sure to wash your hands before and after using it. Don’t reuse the sachets once you have opened them. You should wash off the cream after 8-10 hours. If you do have sex, make sure you do not leave the cream on.
Not everyone who’s been exposed to the virus will develop genital warts. In fact, most people don’t. Sometimes, the immune system will clear the virus, and people never even know they had it. When the HPV isn’t cleared away, though, genital warts or other problems can develop.
In men, genital warts — which may appear weeks to months after HPV is contracted — grow inside or around the anus, on the upper thighs and in the groin area, and on the scrotum and penis, including under the foreskin and inside the urethral opening. (The urethra is the tube through which urine exits the body.)
Once a person is infected, it is possible to clear the virus if the body develops an appropriate immune response. But, because the virus only infects the most superficial layers of skin and does not enter the bloodstream, the virus may evade the immune system to the extent that the virus may remain on the skin of the infected person for life. It is estimated that over 50% of sexually active adults are infected with the virus at some point in their lives, with and women being equally affected. The risk of being a carrier rises with the number of sexual partners.
In children younger than three years of age, genital warts are thought to be transmitted by nonsexual methods such as direct manual contact. Nevertheless, the presence of genital warts in children should raise the suspicion for sexual abuse.
You then “walk away quick, eleven steps, with your eyes shut, and then turn around three times and walk home without speaking to anybody. Because if you speak the charm’s busted.” This is held to be superior to Huckleberry Finn’s preferred remedy which involved throwing a dead cat into a graveyard. Another remedy involved splitting a bean, drawing blood from the wart and putting it on one of the halves, and burying that half at a crossroads at midnight. The theory of operation is that the blood on the buried bean will draw away the wart.[43] Twain is recognized as an early collector and recorder of genuine American folklore.[44]
Genital warts are caused by a group of viruses called HPV (short for human papillomavirus). There are more than 100 types of HPV. Some of them cause the kind of warts you see on people’s hands and feet. Genital warts and the kinds of warts on hands and feet are usually caused by different types of HPV.
Most people with HPV do not know they are infected and never develop symptoms or health problems from it. Some people find out they have HPV when they get genital warts. Women may find out they have HPV when they get an abnormal Pap test result (during cervical cancer screening). Others may only find out once they’ve developed more serious problems from HPV, such as cancers.
Podophyllotoxin – It simply works by poisoning the wart cells. It works best for warts occurring in clusters. Again, be careful when applying this remedy. As already stated, there is no way the creams can tell the difference between healthy body cells and wart cells.
Some strains of HPV cause genital warts. But there are also so-called “oncogenic” (tumour-causing) types of HPV that will increase your chances of developing anal cancer. Men with HIV are relatively more likely to get anal cancer or one of its earliest stages (AIN).
An office procedure called colposcopy is used to spot warts that cannot be seen with the naked eye. It uses a light and a low-power microscope to help your provider find and then take samples (biopsy) of abnormal areas in your cervix.
They usually grow into the skin because the person’s weight pushes onto the sole of the foot. They normally have a small central black dot surrounded by hard, white tissue. Plantar warts are often difficult to clear.
Imiquimod is a topical cream that helps the body’s immune system fight the wart virus by encouraging interferon production. It has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for genital warts.[19]
HPV is transmitted through skin-to-skin contact, usually during sexual intercourse. During intercourse the virus can enter cells of the skin or mucosal layers of the genital tract through small breaks and multiply there. It may remain dormant or multiply further, causing a wart. The wart is possibly most contagious, but the virus in invisible lesions (subclinical lesions) can also be transmitted. This makes it difficult to prevent the spread of genital warts.
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^ Jump up to: a b Stefani M, Bottino G, Fontenelle E, Azulay DR (2009). “Efficacy comparison between cimetidine and zinc sulphate in the treatment of multiple and recalcitrant warts”. An Bras Dermatol. 84 (1): 23–29. PMID 19377755. Archived from the original on 2011-11-26.
Men and women up to age 26 can receive the HPV vaccine. It can also be given as early as age 9, and comes in a round of three different shots. These vaccines should be given before becoming sexually active, as they are most effective before a person is exposed to HPV. Using a condom every time you have sex can also reduce your risk of contracting genital warts.
Duct tape occlusion therapy involves placing a piece of duct tape over the wart. The mechanism of action of this technique still remains unknown. Despite several clinical trials, evidence for the efficacy of duct tape therapy is inconclusive.[38] Despite the mixed evidence for efficacy, the simplicity of the method and its limited side-effects leads some researchers to be reluctant to dismiss it.[39]
A dermatologist can tell whether you have a wart by looking at it. In rare cases, a dermatologist may need to perform a skin biopsy to be certain. If a dermatologist needs to perform a biopsy, the doctor will remove the wart and send it to a lab. At the lab, a small piece of the wart will be looked at under a microscope.
Men are typically screened clinically with a visual inspection to check for lesions (such as warts) – there is no specific way to test directly for HPV in men that is approved for clinical use. Researchers are looking at ways to better screen men, but the current lack of testing options for males can be very frustrating.
Your doctor will ask about your medical history and about your sexual habits and any prior episodes of STDs. Your doctor will then examine you to look for evidence of genital warts. Their appearance is very characteristic and most often the diagnosis does not require further testing. If necessary, a vinegar-like solution placed on the skin turns the warts white and makes diagnosis easier.
After 2 weeks of this treatment, your wart will have turned white and will look fluffy. Your doctor will then be able to remove the white skin layer covering the wart and use cryosurgery to freeze the base (root) of the wart. If your skin reacts strongly to cold, tell your doctor before cryosurgery.
If your warts don’t cause you any discomfort, they don’t need to be treated. Genital warts usually go away on their own within two years. If your genital warts spread or make you feel very uncomfortable, your doctor can treat them.
There are various treatment options for genital warts: applying a special cream or lotion over the course of several weeks, freezing them off with liquid nitrogen, or removing them with a laser or a surgical knife. Removing the warts will not remove the virus that causes them from your body. That means that after having been treated for warts, you could still get them again.
There is not a single male genital warts cure, but the above treatments have been known to have substantial success with wart removal. Genital warts may return at a later date, as the HPV virus still remains in the cells. Infections may become active again, should the immune system be compromised by illness.
Salicylic acid, which is currently considered the most desirable wart treatment, based on its effectiveness and safety. The treatment takes 2 to 3 months. Salicylic acid formulas include Compound W and Occlusal. Ask your doctor about how to use salicylic acid.
Imiquimod is a topically active immune enhancer that stimulates production of interferon and other cytokines. Imiquimod cream should be applied once daily at bedtime, three times a week for up to 16 weeks (407). The treatment area should be washed with soap and water 6–10 hours after the application. Local inflammatory reactions, including redness, irritation, induration, ulceration/erosions, and vesicles, are common with the use of imiquimod, and hypopigmentation has also been described (408). Imiquimod might weaken condoms and vaginal diaphragms. The safety of imiquimod during pregnancy has not been established.
If you think you are infected you should get examined to avoid complications and to prevent that you transmit the infection to future partners. In about half of all cases, genital warts appear on the shaft of the penis, usually just below the foreskin.
