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Genital warts treatment

People often joke about sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Henry the Eighth, who suffered from paranoia and a marked deterioration in his mental capabilities supposedly died in 1547 of syphilis. Of course, it is mere conjecture that he died of syphilis, but his symptoms are consistent with those of syphilis infection. Imagine that, one night of unprotected relations could cause someone to contract a STD that, when left untreated, can result in a mental disorder and death.

As is evidenced by the symptoms of syphilis, STDs are serious diseases that can have long range health problems in people who contract them. They may affect the man or woman’s ability to have children, risk of getting cancer, and may cause pain, burning and itching. Genital warts, although very visible and highly treatable, are no laughing matter either. An offshoot of the human papilloma virus (HPC), these dangerous and unsightly warts can cause cancer of the uterus or vulva.

Genital warts generally appear as raised bumps on your genitals, your anus or any of the surrounding skin. The bumps may be called lesions by your doctor. They are flesh colored and easy to see. If they go untreated for too long they will begin to take up more real estate and increase in both number and size. When this happens, they start to cluster and spread and end up resembling the head of a cauliflower.

Unfortunately, there are no symptoms attached to genital warts, so you must be relentless in checking your genital area if you think you may have contracted them. You will not feel any pain, burning or itching to indicate that something is wrong. You may experience excessive vaginal discharge, but that is not a guarantee. As we mentioned above, when left untreated genital warts can cause cancer—so even though there is no pain you must still seek genital warts treatment if you find you have them. If you do find genital warts, it is important that you not try to remove them yourself and that you don’t squeeze them or open them, since this can cause them to spread.

Genital warts treatment is relatively routine, although it can be expensive. They can be taken off with laser treatments or through freezing (cryotherapy) or surgical removal. Laser genital warts treatment should be used as a last resort because healing times are long, it can cause scarring in the area where the warts were, and it allows some of the infectious particles to be released into the air which means they can actually attack another area of your body.

Quite possibly the best form of genital warts treatment, cryotherapy is both popular and easy. With cryotherapy there is no anesthetic, very little healing time needed and little risk of the virus spreading. Cryotherapy is the genital warts treatment that is usually used first, and often ends up being the only treatment needed.

If you suspect that you may have genital warts, it is important that you visit your primary care physician or gynecologist immediately. He or she can properly diagnose and treat the virus and reduce your risk of getting cancer as a result of the virus going untreated. 25% of all cases of genital warts come back just three months after being treated—so you are already in for a battle even when you visit your primary care physician. Don’t make matters worse and try at home treatments first—because they do not work. All you are doing with at home treatments is increasing the amount of time you have the virus and increasing your risk of cancer or spreading the virus. Be sure to contact all partners you’ve been with who may now have the virus and use protection with all future partners. Even after you have received treatment, you still carry the virus and, even if you have no visible lesions, you can still pass it on to others.

Last updated on Oct 19th, 2009 and filed under Reproductive Health. Both comments and pings are currently closed.