Genital wart treatment
Genital warts are painful and can be embarrassing during intimate moments. Also called venereal warts, anal warts or anogenital warts, or by the medical term Condyloma acuminata this condition is a highly contagious sexually transmitted infection which is caused by some sub-types of human papillomavirus or HPV. It’s spread during oral, genital or anal sex with by direct skin-to-skin contact with someone who’s already infected.
The strains of HPV that can cause genital warts are 6, 11, 30, 42, 43,44,45,51, 52, and 54, but types 6 and 11 cause almost 90% of genital wart cases. Getting genital wart treatment is important for the physical and mental health of the sufferer.
As genital wart treatment begins it’s essentially to take proper care of the following:
As genital warts are highly contagious don’t touch them and more importantly don’t try to squeeze or pop them. This will actually make the condition worse.
Be careful during intimacy to wear a condom and warn a sexual partner to avoid the warts.
Be careful to prevent any trauma to the area which might result in bleeding.
When going to the doctor for genital wart treatment describe the problems and symptoms being experienced to ensure the proper medications or procedures aren’t delayed due to a lack of communication.
Genital warts usually appear in clusters and might be very tiny. Sometimes they might spread out over the genital or penis area in a large mass. In some cases, they actually look like small stalks. For women the warts might be inside or outside the vagina, the cervix and even the womb. They are as prevalent in men as women but the symptoms aren’t as obvious.
Warts on a man usually present on the penis tip, shaft, or on the scrotum. In both men and women they can even be found in the area around the anus.
Depending on the size and locations of the condition a doctor might offer several different genital wart treatments including:
Podophyllotoxin is a solution in a gel or cream which can be applied by the sufferer directly on the affected area.
Imiquimod is also used for genital wart treatment as a topical immune response cream. It causes less skin irritation than medications.
Doctor applied medications for genital wart treatment include:
- Liquid nitrogen cryosurgery—a genital wart treatment in which the warts are frozen off.
- Trichloroacetic acid.
- Surgical excision and Laser ablation are used to cut or burn off the genital warts.
- Interferon or a stronger podophyllin solution applied to the area and then washed off.
It’s important to tell the doctor of other conditions; especially pregnancy exists before beginning genital wart treatment.