A Few Questions About Genital Warts

[thurstroubadours]

I believe I have genital warts. I have seen a doctor twice and she believes it to be so, but I'm a little confused. All the information I have read says the bumps appear white or flesh-colored. My bumps are red and they don't look like typical warts, more like pimples. Also, the head of my penis has purple discolorations all over it. Also, the "warts" have spread from the shaft of my penis to my inner thighs and lower stomach. Also, the glans (or the start of the shaft right under the head, whatever that's called) has been excessively dry. I have exzema (eczema), could that be the cause of any of it? I have been tested twice for herpes, syphillis, and other STDs and the tests have all come back negative. Is this HPV or something else? Thank you.

[Alan Rockoff, MD]

These don't sound like warts to me.  Your doctor may also "believe" they're warts, but how does she know, and what is she doing to find out (or to treat them.)  Either your doctor should be definitive and explain how she can be sure, or else she should do a skin biopsy to confirm the diagnosis, or else you should get another opinion.  I suspect you may have molluscum contagiosum, a wart caused by a different virus, that is often not sexually transmitted.  Find out.

Thanks.

Dr. Rockoff