Genital Wart Recurrance?

[helpquestions]

About 10 years ago, I was diagnosed with both mollescum and genital warts, or with just one of them - I'm not sure.  I went for two treatments with one doctor who said they were mollescum.  I moved and had to go for another treatment, and the new doctor diagnosed them as warts.  It took about two and a half years to get rid of them.  I was using Condylox at home until I went for a checkup, and yet another doctor told me I was using it on hair follicles, that whatever I had was gone.  I had no recurrance after that.  When I went for a checkup at a clinic about five years later, they didn't find anything.  They also advised me that I didn't need to tell prospective partners I'd had anything, since the virus is so common.  Obviously this was a relief to hear.  I've always been a little worried about a recurrance, but the more time has passed, the less I've worried.  Then, about three weeks ago, I found a small reddish bump that looks sort of like a pimple on the shaft of my penis, on the top, near the middle, just where the line of circumcision is.  I went to back to the same clinic, where a different woman told me she was "99% sure" it wasn't a wart.  She also said I should have been telling partners if I'd had warts before, though.  Two weeks later, the bump was still there, and I went back.  The same doctor said it was "fifty-fifty," that it didn't look like a normal wart, but it didn't look like a normal skin tag either.  She said it definitely isn't mollescum.  She also said I was making too big a deal of it, but that if I had to know, a skin biopsy would be the only way to know for sure.  The bump is still there.  I've tried popping it, and it usually doesn't pop.  Once, a very little bit of white stuff came out, but it didn't go away.  I have a girlfriend now, and she doesn't know any of this.  She went for a checkup after we'd been dating about three months, and her PAP smear came back normal, which I took as one more sign that I couldn't possibly infect anybody, that the virus had cleared my system.  Was I totally wrong?  What do I need to tell her now?  Does this sound like a recurrance?  All I can think to do is tell her that I'm worried about this bump and go to a dermatologist and have a biopsy done.  Am I making a big deal out of nothing, or does it sound like I have a serious cause for concern?  I apologize for the length of this posting, but my history has been pretty complicated, and I've recieved so many contradictory answers, I don't know what to think.  I don't want to hurt my girlfriend now by giving her anything, but I don't want to freak her out over nothing, either.  Can you shed any light on my situation?  Thanks in advance for your time.

[Alan Rockoff, MD]

From your description, I doubt you have a wart now.  I suggest you leave it alone and show it to a dermatologist.  We rarely have to resort to a biopsy to make this diagnosis, though it is feasible in case there's ambiguity.

I agree with the advice you were given earlier, namely that there's no need to discuss this with a aprtner, as it isn't clear that you ever actually had HPV warts, as opposed to molluscum.  I suspect that you were applying Condylox to follicles, not warts, for much of the time you were using it.

Take care.

Dr. Rockoff

[helpquestions]

Thanks for replying so quickly.  I was going to insist on a biopsy, just to set my mind at ease.  Should I not do that?  Also, would a PAP smear indicate that neither of us have HPV?  Any ideas on what the bump might be?

[Alan Rockoff, MD]

The Pap doesn't help much.  If you're that worried, a biopsy might settle things more definitively.

Dr. Rockoff

[helpquestions]

I'm worried, I guess, because the bump is still there and has been for a few weeks.  And it seems like it's really hard to diagnose these things definitively.  I mean, obviously I'd like to believe it's something else completely.  I guess I probably am making a bigger deal of it than I need to, you know?

[Alan Rockoff, MD]

Actually, it's not that hard to diagnose these things definitively.  You need to see someone who can answer your question, so you can stop worrying.

Dr. Rockoff