Genital warts are a sexually transmitted disease caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV) and affects both men and women. Genital warts are treatable but can come back if the underlying infection is not treated properly.

Genital Warts appear as soft growths on the genitals and are known to cause itching, pain and discomfort. Although the disease affects both men and women, it causes more complications in women as some strains of HPV can cause cancer of the cervix and vulva.

Warts can appear on the penis, scrotum, groin, thighs, inside or around the anus for men. These can appear inside of the vagina or anus, outside of the vagina or anus or cervix for women. They can also appear on the mouth, lips, tongue, throat of the person who engages in oral sex with an infected person. Sometimes the warts may be invisible to the eye and still cause symptoms like vaginal discharge, itching, bleeding or a burning sensation.

Symptoms of Genital Warts: HPV is very common and nearly 70 pc of the people are infected around the genital area. The Center for Disease control (CDC) says that most sexually active people, are affected by the disease at some point of there life. It is important to note that although the disease is transmittable through skin-to-skin contact, it doesn't spread from the hand to the genitals or vice versa.

Diagnosis: 

Genital Warts can be diagnosed by performing a physical examination of the infected areas by a medical professional. Since some warts can be inside a woman's body, a doctor may have to conduct a pelvic exam. While conducting the test they use a mild acidic solution which makes the Genital Warts more visible.
A Pap smear test may also be conducted, in which a swab of the area is taken from inside your cervix. Apart from that doctors may also ask questions about a person's sexual history as well as health as ask if they have participated in unprotected sex, including oral sex.

Treatment: Visible Genital warts go away with time; however treatment is essential to prevent their return. The virus cannot be eliminated once it is in your bloodstream, which makes it possible that an infected person will have many break outs in their life. Managing the symptoms of Genital warts is important as they can be easily passed on to your sexual partner, even if there are no visible symptoms.

Genital Warts - How They Can be Diagnosed?

What are Warts?

Warts are infectious outgrowths that may appear on any part of the body. For example, the most common warts occur on fingers. They are caused by virus, most typically the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) and several of its subtypes. They appear as dense painless rounded nodules of about 0.3- 1 cm in diameter. The mode of transmission of this virus is usually by contact. You can also contract warts by sharing objects like razors, towels or other personal items. They can be sexually transmitted if the warts are present on genitals.

Usually, they are benign outgrowths but sometimes, they may be cancerous if present on genitals.

How To Prevent Warts?

Earlier, the only way to prevent contracting warts was avoiding contact with infected people. But now-a-days, vaccines against HPV are present that are given in teen years to prevent genital warts and cancer caused by them.

How are they diagnosed?

Your doctor can easily tell if the outgrowth is a wart just by having a look at it. If it is not clear, your doctor may take a sample of your skin and look at it under the microscope to ensure that it is a wart.

Treating Warts-

CAUTERIZATION

Cauterization is a medical procedure wherein a part of the body is burnt in order to damage some tissue in order to prevent an outgrowth. Cauterization can be done by medicine, cryotherapy (using localised or general low temperatures to treat benign or malignant tissues), radio frequency cauterization or laser. The method applied depends on size and location of the outgrowth or the choice of you dermatologist as well.

It is recommended to get warts removed at its earliest to prevent spreading of the disease.

Several myths are present in the market that state cure to warts by various homemade remedies but these can do more harm than good. Treating warts must be done by practised medical personnel. Incomplete removal of warts can cause recurrence of warts due to secondary infection.

Warts - How To Get Rid Of Them?

Anal herpes and anal warts are sexually transmitted diseases. These both diseases affect the genitals. As these are sexually transmitted diseases, these are transmitted through sexual contact.

Anal Herpes:

It is an infection caused by herpes virus, which is caused by the sore or blisters formed around the anus. This infection is caused by the herpes simplex virus (HSV) type 1 or 2 viruses.
The symptoms of anal herpes include red bumps or white blisters, itching and pain around the anal area, development of ulcer at the site of blisters, a coating that covers the ulcers ruptures or is bleeding, any change in the bowel habit.
Treatment

Antiviral therapy is one of the primary treatment for anal herpes. The virus responsible mainly for herpes is herpes simplex virus type II. Antiviral medications are given to patients, these medicines fight the virus. The symptoms of herpes are reduced with this therapy.
Regular use of antiviral medication is referred to as suppressive therapy. As the name suggests, people on suppressive therapy, reduce the risk of passing the infection to their sexual partner.
In severe anal herpes, the doctor might give intravenous antiviral therapy to control the infection.However, the herpes virus cannot be cured as it is considered a lifelong infection. The virus stays in the nerve cells for lifelong and is inactive for long periods of time. It only outbreaks when it is triggered by an externalfactor such as illness, stress, or sun exposure.
Prevention
As anal herpes is transmitted through sexual contact, one can lower the risk of this disease. Safety measures can be used are:

Wear a condom or use barrier protection during every sexual intercourse, including anal or oral sex.
Reduce the number of sexual partners.
If one maintains monogamy, the risk is minimal for transmitting anal herpes.
One should abstain from sex altogether, if possible.
Anal Warts:
Anal warts are small warts that occur around the anus. Another name for anal wart is condyloma acuminate. In many cases, anal warts don t cause any pain or discomfort. But, they cause irritation when they grow in size and might be itchy and/or bleed. However, if there are no symptoms seen, people suffering from anal wart might not even know that they have warts. Anal warts might occur only at a spot or even spread to different parts of the genitals such as buttocks, anus, and inner thighs over a period of time.

Symptoms
The anal warts are small bumps initially, a size of the head of a pin, which is not even noticed. However, as they grow, they can develop to a size of a cauliflower-likean appearance, when several warts are clustered together to form a huge lump. These warts are peach colored and the color may vary from yellow, light brown, or pink and it might even blend with the skin color. Usually the anal warts are without any pain or discomfort, however, other rare occurring symptoms are itching, discharge from the anus, or bleeding. Anal warts in women might appear on vagina, vulva, or at the cervix, whereas in men it can develop on penis, scrotum, groin area, or thighs.

Treatment
Topical medication can be used to treat anal warts, such as imiquimod, podofilox, podophyllum, etc. Another treatment of anal wart that depends upon the location and severity of the condition:

Cryotherapy
Electrocautery
Laser treatments
Surgery can be recommended for larger warts that do not respond to medications.

Anal Herpes & Warts - Possible Ways They Can Be Treated!

HPV refers to Human Papillomavirus. This is a common virus, which has got more than 100 different types and over 40 of these types are transmitted sexually. This virus may cause cervical cancer and cases of genital warts. It is likely to occur in people who are sexually active to contract genital HPV, and it is not accompanied by any signs or symptoms. The virus is transmitted via skin to skin contact and is severely infectious in nature. Using condoms may reduce the risk of spreading of this virus, but is not always successful.

There are two major vaccines for HPV. 

Gardasil: This vaccine prevents the most common HPVs which are associated with genital and anal cancer, and also warts of both genital and anal type.
Cervarix: This type of vaccine prevents HPV associated with the occurrence of cervical cancer.
Reasons for vaccination against HPV

HPV vaccines are recommended to girls between 11 and 12 years. It is also given to girls and women between the age of 13 and 26 years, who have never been vaccinated against HPC before. These vaccines should be given to females before they start being active sexually and get exposed to the HPV virus. Sexually active females benefit from these vaccines as well, but the effect is less.

Here are three reasons why you should vaccinate against HPV:

All types of HPV vaccine help in the elimination of the viruses which cause cervical cancer. Viruses causing cancer in the vulva, vagina or anus are also targeted by these HPV vaccines. The HPV vaccines also protect against genital or anal warts. HPV vaccines work effectively in the prevention of cancers caused by HPC viruses and also curb the common health problems which are accompanied.
The effect of HPV vaccines is quite long lasting in an individual who is vaccinated against HPV. Usually it lasts for ten years or more without having any related disorders or cancers. The protection does not weaken over time and remains stable.
HPV vaccines are licensed by the FDA to be completely safe and efficient to use. Extensive studies have been carried out globally, and no safety concerns have ever arisen. The side effects of HPV vaccines are usually quite mild. However, a little amount of pain, dizziness and nausea are involved.
HPV vaccines are a series of effective vaccines, which prevent the occurrence of cervical cancer and other cancers which are sexually transmitted. They are generally given to women before getting sexually active to prevent transmission of HPV viruses. Some HPV vaccines are prescribed to males as well.

3 Reasons To Vaccinate Against HPV

Genital warts refer to small (sometimes invisible), cauliflower shaped bumps, which form around the genital region and severely affect the moist tissues around the concerned region. Genital warts are more common in sexually active people and are one of the most commonly transmitted sexual diseases. The virus responsible for the disease, Human Papillomavirus can also cause other serious disorders such as genital cancers.

Genital warts can occur in both the genders. The virus generally spreads through sexual intercourse. In men, warts appear around the scrotum, the tip of the penis or the anus. In women, warts might form around the vaginal walls, the cervix or around the anal canal. If you had any form of oral contact with the genitals of an already infected person, genital warts can form around your throat or mouth.

The symptoms of genital warts are as follows:
1. Severe itchy sensation and discomfort around the genital areas.
2. Bleeding during sexual intercourse
3. Formation of numerous small, grey bumps around the genital region
Genital warts are caused by genital HPV s, which are transmitted, primarily through sexual contact. In most of the cases, the immune system is able to combat the virus and makes you less susceptible to this disorder.

However, you might be at an increased risk of developing genital warts because of the following reasons:
1. Engaging in unprotected sex, that too with different partners.
2. Past history of other sexually transmitted infection
3. Being sexually active from an early age
4. Having unprotected sexual intercourse without being aware of one s medical history

The treatment for genital warts depends on the severity of the condition. If the warts are causing significant pain and discomfort for you, your doctor might opt for one of the following procedures to get rid of the same:
1. Application of Imiquimod creams around the affected area might help treat the condition.
2. A regulated application of  Trichloroacetic  acid on the affected areas might help to burn off the genital warts.
3. Application of a solution of  Podophyllin  on the affected areas might help destroying the soft tissues around the genital areas.
4. If your warts are significantly large in size or do not respond well to medications, you can also opt for surgical excision or laser therapies to get rid of them

What Can be the Possible Reasons of Gential Warts

What causes warts? Can we prevent it?

Warts are small formations that occur on the skin. They appear in the form of dark protruding bumps or brown flat lesion on the skin surface. Sometimes they might also have tiny black specks on them. Warts usually form on the hands, feet, face and genitals, although they may appear on other parts of the body in some cases.

What causes the formation of warts?

Common warts are caused due to infection of the outermost layer of skin that occurs as a result of viral contamination. The virus that is responsible for this condition belongs to the human papillomavirus (HPV) family.

This infection is highly contagious and easily spreads from one person to the next. It is most likely to occur on skin that is cut or damaged as that allows easy access for the virus to enter the skin system.

How to prevent the formation of warts?

Common warts are contagious and spread very easily. Preventing the spread of the HPV virus can be done through simple steps that will help you avoid getting affected by this condition.

Some of the preventive measures that can be adopted are as follows:

- picking and scratching on warts should be avoided

- avoid biting fingernails as gnawing on the skin around the nails makes it more prone to infection

- grooming, brushing and shaving around infected areas should be done with care

- moisture and dampness should be avoided as the virus thrives on it

Do not self-medicate with lime (chuna), garlic, onion or Dettol.

Treatment

Wart removal should be done by a qualified dermatologist. It is simple, safe opd procedure which takes few minutes only and does not leave any scars.

If you would like to consult with me privately, please click on 'consult'.
Related Tip: 6 Effective Ways to Get Rid of Warts - Cauliflower-like Skin Inflammation

What Causes WARTs? Can We Prevent it?

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