Wart On Penile Shaft

[Darr3n]

Back in 1992, I was dating a girl that accused me of giving her genital warts.  At the time, that could have very well been true.  It wasn't until a couple of months later that I noticed a single wart on the shaft of my penis at about the midway mark on the underside.  I went to the doctor and had it frozen off or burned off, I can't remember.  It was months later that the same woman told me she had to have another treatment for the genital warts and that I was the only one she had slept with so she knew I had given it to her again.  I went a couple of years I believe and never saw any signs of any more warts and then one day the same wart appeared.  I was embarassed to go back to my doctor again so I just got a brand new disposable razor and basically shaved it off myself.  It stayed gone for about 3 months so I did the same thing again.  To make a long story short, I've done that ever since.  Sometimes the wart comes back once a month and sometimes I'll go 5 or 6 months without seeing it.  It's always in the same place.  I've been married and divorced twice over the past 14 years and each wife had regular pap smears with no signs of infections.  I can usually apply something like Neosporin constantly for 48 hours after i shave off the wart and all signs of the wart and scab are gone so I just have to avoid sex a night or two to pull this off.  I know this is soundling like a really silly story and I'm starting to feel really silly doing this so I'd like to get it resolved for good.  Why didn't it go away with the first treatment?  Is that normal?  Why didn't I infect either wife?  Can I treat this at home or do I need another office visit and just come clean with my doctor?

[Englishman]

Go to a doctor before using a razor blade on your willy!

[Alan Rockoff, MD]

Warts often recur, whether they're on the penis or on the thumb.  Just because they come back doesn't mean you caught them again.  Why do they do this, and where are they between outbreaks, and are they catchy when invisible?  All good questions, but there aren't any definitive answers.  As to contagion, it's essentially impossible to tell in the individual case who gave what to whom or whether they even did.  Besides, warts can incubate for months or years before they appear.

Bottom line: show your next bump to a doctor knowledgeable about warts.  Be as sure as you can that that's what the bumps actually are.  Don't think of this as "coming clean"--to a doctor, this is just a common diagnosis, nothing to be ashamed of.

Best.

Dr. Rockoff

[Englishman]

Are you 100% certain it is a wart? Have you had a biopsy and test for HPV?

[Darr3n]

I have not mentioned it to my doctor since that one visit back in '92.