Aa
Should I worry?
I am a female and had protected sex with a man who I had been seeing and during the sex I noticed that he had a brown wart near the base of his penis. He told me AFTER that it was probably a genital wart that had come back and that his doctor told him that he PROBABLY wasn't contagious!! Im livid and nervous!! I have had my Gardasil shots and his doctor told him that by his history of warts that he probably wasnt contagious but what does that even mean?! I just got through a similar situation with a herpes scare and now this is just too much. Legitimately I found that there is something like 2/3 of a chance of me getting warts now from just that one protected exposure.. But honestly all I want to know though is because of the fact that it was protected and that ive had all of my shots, what are my chances of contracting the genital warts? I know that even though I may contract the strain I may still not ever show warts but what are my chances. Please and thanks.
I would like to tell you to be cautious. First as upsetting as this may be—genital warts are a fact of life for many and they do usually clear without any significant health problems. Unfortunately, most physicians do not know a lot about Gardasil. They did not know a lot about it when if first came on the market but due to a great marketing job by Merck, it won them over as a "cancer vaccine" which it was not and that it would prevent genital warts. My understanding is that it was never 100% effective for the 4 it claimed to be. My understanding also is it only has efficacy (is effective) for HPV 16 at five years. The other three—6,11 and 18 may have lost their titers (benefit), there is some controversy with this. You need to factor in how long ago you received the vaccination and what your risk is. You also needed to be a virgin when you received the shot to have received the full benefit. It is possible you have been exposed (by your new partner) but it is equally possible you will never get this due to your own immunity (or Gardasil). If you are worried, I would wait until the wart (or warts) is gone and there are no more outbreaks for 6 months before you are sexually active. I would at the very least use condoms but I'm sure you already know that condoms are not 100% effective against HPV. If this is going to be a life long partner, then there is probably not as much worry if you are going to be together.
bump. if noone has anything to say i will stop bumping tho.
ok well he got he biopsy and he ended up having type 6, which is covered by gardasil. now i dont want to doubt the effectiveness of gardasil because i know it has a great track record, but i still do not feel fully safe. I guess i will still have to wait and see but the doctors told him that because i was vaccinated we could even go as far as to have unprotected sex!... Should i trust the drug?
Everyone's immune system is different so even though he might have had recurrences, it doesn't guarantee that you will too. The condom works by physically blocking the virus from having contact with your skin. Once the virus enters your body, your immune system will prevent the warts from growing if it is strong enough.
It seems like all you can do at this point is just wait and observe to see if you develop any warts. If you catch them early they are easier to treat anyway. You can also try to boost your own immune system by taking vitamins, drinking lots of water, eating veggies, etc.
By the way is there any information on how effective the body is at attacking and beating a virus such as this in the first place? I read that condoms help prevent most of the virus from entering the body so the body can recognize and fight the virus and then be prepared to protect you if you ever encounter it again. Do you have any opinoin on this or am I completely off base?
Ok, I have asked him to go to the doctor today and see what he can do. Hopefully they let him do a biopsy.
Thanks for saying not to worry though. I know we only had sex once but thats what all of the online sources are saying it takes. Although they arent saying you will get warts they are i believe saying that more than 60% of people get the virus. But more than 80% of women encounter the virus in their lifetimes! ... idk.. nothing else i can do about it now except continue to monitor my body. and i know that it isnt a given that i have it i just am mad at the whole situation now. everyone makes mistakes i guess but im still upset. Thanks again for the comments and ill post as soon as i know more =]
Thanks for saying not to worry though. I know we only had sex once but thats what all of the online sources are saying it takes. Although they arent saying you will get warts they are i believe saying that more than 60% of people get the virus. But more than 80% of women encounter the virus in their lifetimes! ... idk.. nothing else i can do about it now except continue to monitor my body. and i know that it isnt a given that i have it i just am mad at the whole situation now. everyone makes mistakes i guess but im still upset. Thanks again for the comments and ill post as soon as i know more =]
Well, you won't hear from any doctors here. YOu have to post on the Ask An Expert forum and it's 20 bucks.
In a way his experience sounds unique and so it's hard to pinpoint what to think. If he has warts since he was 11 then really it complicates things because that's outside of my knowledge. All warts are HPV related I believe, but some are genital only and the rest are elsewhere on the body. Maybe he has a non-sexual strain that is on that part of his body. I don't know. For now, if you really need an answer all he can do is biopsy it and find out the strain number. If he agrees to do so it will end discussion. If not, you will have to monitor yourself every week or two for visual changes for up to six months to see if you get one. I wouldn't worry too much about it though. You only had sex once and it isn't a given that you now have it. Just be cool and check it out every once in a while.
In a way his experience sounds unique and so it's hard to pinpoint what to think. If he has warts since he was 11 then really it complicates things because that's outside of my knowledge. All warts are HPV related I believe, but some are genital only and the rest are elsewhere on the body. Maybe he has a non-sexual strain that is on that part of his body. I don't know. For now, if you really need an answer all he can do is biopsy it and find out the strain number. If he agrees to do so it will end discussion. If not, you will have to monitor yourself every week or two for visual changes for up to six months to see if you get one. I wouldn't worry too much about it though. You only had sex once and it isn't a given that you now have it. Just be cool and check it out every once in a while.
Ok so he said he has gotten warts since before he was sexually active at 11, then a recurrance at 14, 18, and now since a little more than a month ago. The doctors told him that because of his abnormal timing with recurrances that he probably wasnt contagious but yea I do feel like that is bs. He has had no biopsy because he was always told that men cannot test for the strain that they have. And besides the actual act of sex where his warts on the base of his penis possibly/probably touched the outside of my vagina, there was no rubbing on his organs then onto mine. I did read too that the body will "clear" the virus in about two years and most women do not have recurrances but with his strain it seems odd that he has had so many outbreaks and makes me wonder if that could be how I end up as well. I am horribly scared and am somewhat depending on the gardasil at this point and although i understand that it only covers 2 specific wart types that those types are responsible for 90% of warts. ... I dont know though.. I'm appreciating all comments and support at this time. Hope to hear from you and maybe more doctors or readers soon.
Well, there are some unanswered questions here as far as the science goes so maybe someone else will be able to expand on this.
What I don't understand is this b.s. about him not being contagious with an active wart on his junk. As far as I know, and I might not know I confess, an active wart means he is contagious. This depends on several factors.
First of all, how long has he had warts? When was he first diagnosed? Was it a visual diagnosis or did he have it biopsied and lab results confirm it? How long after having his 'wart experience' did this other wart 'come back'? The general research says that if you experience a three to six month period after your last wart removal then you can consider yourself cleared of the virus. If he went six months and now as another brown spot that could be a wart then it's either a new infection, not a wart, or he's one of the rarer cases where he has recurrence later than most people. If it hasn't been three to six months then he's misinformed or a douche or both. For him to have sex with you is totally out of line and you should be livid with him at the very least. That is total b.s.
Your gardasil shots will protect your from like three strains of wart HPV. YOu probably know that already and know more than me. You may be protected from his strain but to know for sure he'd have to biopsy that thing and find out the strain number. Not only that, perhaps there is a chance you weren't infected. I have no idea what the chances are of not gettting infected if he has an actual wart present. I personally had months of unprotected sex with my girlfriend and she never got it. I had an outbreak two or three days after we had sex and then about ten days after treatment and still she doesn't have it so there is that to suggest that it's not a given you will get it. Using a condom has high risk because the condom may be too short to cover the contagious portion of the shaft or perhaps your foreplay involved rubbing on each other and you were infected then and by the time the condom was donned it may not matter anymore as you were already infected.
Other than that it's a crap shoot whether you have warts or not. I'd advise him to not be so selfish. Even if you do get warts, they will go away in less than two years and there is no lasting problems for you as well. So there is that silver lining. But don't assume you have it. Just check yourself really good right now and every week to two weeks give yourself a good check to see if anything changes. Don't check all the time. Just once every couple weeks/week. Hope this helps.
Cheers,
What I don't understand is this b.s. about him not being contagious with an active wart on his junk. As far as I know, and I might not know I confess, an active wart means he is contagious. This depends on several factors.
First of all, how long has he had warts? When was he first diagnosed? Was it a visual diagnosis or did he have it biopsied and lab results confirm it? How long after having his 'wart experience' did this other wart 'come back'? The general research says that if you experience a three to six month period after your last wart removal then you can consider yourself cleared of the virus. If he went six months and now as another brown spot that could be a wart then it's either a new infection, not a wart, or he's one of the rarer cases where he has recurrence later than most people. If it hasn't been three to six months then he's misinformed or a douche or both. For him to have sex with you is totally out of line and you should be livid with him at the very least. That is total b.s.
Your gardasil shots will protect your from like three strains of wart HPV. YOu probably know that already and know more than me. You may be protected from his strain but to know for sure he'd have to biopsy that thing and find out the strain number. Not only that, perhaps there is a chance you weren't infected. I have no idea what the chances are of not gettting infected if he has an actual wart present. I personally had months of unprotected sex with my girlfriend and she never got it. I had an outbreak two or three days after we had sex and then about ten days after treatment and still she doesn't have it so there is that to suggest that it's not a given you will get it. Using a condom has high risk because the condom may be too short to cover the contagious portion of the shaft or perhaps your foreplay involved rubbing on each other and you were infected then and by the time the condom was donned it may not matter anymore as you were already infected.
Other than that it's a crap shoot whether you have warts or not. I'd advise him to not be so selfish. Even if you do get warts, they will go away in less than two years and there is no lasting problems for you as well. So there is that silver lining. But don't assume you have it. Just check yourself really good right now and every week to two weeks give yourself a good check to see if anything changes. Don't check all the time. Just once every couple weeks/week. Hope this helps.
Cheers,
You are reading content posted in the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Community
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