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Hpv warts
Hello doctors and and thank you for your availability. My question is simple, about 4 years ago I had a bout w genital warts on my penis, the doctors froze them off, I was given condylox and sent on my way. Over the years, I've had a few here and there. I've used the condylox and they were gone in days. Now, I have anal warts. A lot of them. I have to have surgery to remove them. I'm curious if you have any idea why this keeps happening to me? It's very discouraging as I was led to believe my body would one day remedy this horrible affliction. I've done alot of reading and it just seems there is so much conflicting information. I'm a 40 year old hetero male and have never had a gay experience. Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Ok. Thanks again
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
I cannot judge the severity, or the safety in delaying treatment. It is not possible to be certain about cancer without professional managment, and extensive anal warts can be a point of origin for serious bacterial infections and other complications. For sure you should not attempt to remove any warts yourself.
I have one last question doctor, I apologize if I'm being a nuisance but my own dr is always in a rush and doesn't seem to have time for my questions.
How serious is this problem for me? My main problem is work. I can't be out long. If I have to have surgery, I understand, I could be out awhile. My thoughts are, if this is just warts, and not cancerous, I would try to remove a number of them myself, then, if needed, have a dr do the rest. I have 3 kids and losing my job due to taking excessive time off is not an option. Thank you
How serious is this problem for me? My main problem is work. I can't be out long. If I have to have surgery, I understand, I could be out awhile. My thoughts are, if this is just warts, and not cancerous, I would try to remove a number of them myself, then, if needed, have a dr do the rest. I have 3 kids and losing my job due to taking excessive time off is not an option. Thank you
Hmmm, was hoping for a more optimistic response but again thank you for your attention and time.
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
I wish I could give some encouragement that your poor health habits and lifestyle are partly responsible for your warts, and that improving these things would help. Unfortunately there simply is no evidence that such factors, or a "healthy immune system", are affected by these things or that improvement would help rid you of your warts. There are plenty of reasons to pursue healthy habits, but I doubt it will have any significant effect on your warts.
Thank you for your kind response. In answer to your question, every "bump" I've treated with condylox was not inspected by a doctor. Some were, some weren't. Anxiety gets the best of me when feeling anything out of the ordinary.
Of course nothing in life is guaranteed but, I'm asking your professional opinion. Is anal cancer something I should be concerned with? I'm a bit anxious because it's such a nasty outbreak. Also,
I have a high stress job, admittedly, I also have not lived the healthiest lifestyle. I'm currently trying to change that. I am/was a heavy smoker and continuously drink/drank coffee w lots of sugar daily for years. Is it possible that changing my lifestyle and changing my ways help get this under wraps at all? Thanks again for your time. I know you must be a very busy man.
Of course nothing in life is guaranteed but, I'm asking your professional opinion. Is anal cancer something I should be concerned with? I'm a bit anxious because it's such a nasty outbreak. Also,
I have a high stress job, admittedly, I also have not lived the healthiest lifestyle. I'm currently trying to change that. I am/was a heavy smoker and continuously drink/drank coffee w lots of sugar daily for years. Is it possible that changing my lifestyle and changing my ways help get this under wraps at all? Thanks again for your time. I know you must be a very busy man.
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Noted -- it doesn't change my opinion or advice.
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Welcome to the forum. Thanks for your question.
Sorry to hear of your problems with recurrent warts. Unfortunately, I can speculate only -- there are no scientific data on why some people have more problems with recurrent warts than others.
But the first thing I would do is separate your recurrent genital warts from the anal ones. Are you confident the repeated genital bumps in fact were warts? Were some of those episodes professionally diagosed.
Anal warts are not rare in heterosexual men with no history of anal sexual exposure of any kind. Most likely the virus simply spreads directly (along the skin) from the genital area; or is inoculated there by fingers, since all humans invariably have regular hand contact with their own genital and anal areas (often without recollection they have done so). Anal warts in themselves carry no implication for anal sexual activity.
Individual persons' immune systems may leave them especially vulnerable to particular infections. For example, some people have repeated problems with localized staph infections, with no measurable difference (with current technologies) in their immune systems in general, or against staph in particular, compared to others. The same phenomenon may explain why some women have more urinary tract or vaginal yeast infections than others. It is a reasonable possibility that something like this may explain some persons' unusual susceptibility to HPV or, once infected, to develop overt warts.
This is only speculation, but maybe someday there will be ways to identify and test for such problems, or maybe even improved ability to prevent or treat them. For now, however, I'm afraid the only option is to hang in there with recommended treatment by an expert with lots of experience in managing anal warts, and with ongoing follow-up thereafter. In addition, you might consider consulting with an infectious diseases specialist, especially a virologist -- or maybe even someone with special research interest in HPV. I doubt this would lead to clear answers or improved management at this time, but such a person might be aware of developments as new research is done in future years, i.e. perhaps an inside track to improved management down the line.
Sorry I can't be more helpful. Best wishes-- HHH, MD
Sorry to hear of your problems with recurrent warts. Unfortunately, I can speculate only -- there are no scientific data on why some people have more problems with recurrent warts than others.
But the first thing I would do is separate your recurrent genital warts from the anal ones. Are you confident the repeated genital bumps in fact were warts? Were some of those episodes professionally diagosed.
Anal warts are not rare in heterosexual men with no history of anal sexual exposure of any kind. Most likely the virus simply spreads directly (along the skin) from the genital area; or is inoculated there by fingers, since all humans invariably have regular hand contact with their own genital and anal areas (often without recollection they have done so). Anal warts in themselves carry no implication for anal sexual activity.
Individual persons' immune systems may leave them especially vulnerable to particular infections. For example, some people have repeated problems with localized staph infections, with no measurable difference (with current technologies) in their immune systems in general, or against staph in particular, compared to others. The same phenomenon may explain why some women have more urinary tract or vaginal yeast infections than others. It is a reasonable possibility that something like this may explain some persons' unusual susceptibility to HPV or, once infected, to develop overt warts.
This is only speculation, but maybe someday there will be ways to identify and test for such problems, or maybe even improved ability to prevent or treat them. For now, however, I'm afraid the only option is to hang in there with recommended treatment by an expert with lots of experience in managing anal warts, and with ongoing follow-up thereafter. In addition, you might consider consulting with an infectious diseases specialist, especially a virologist -- or maybe even someone with special research interest in HPV. I doubt this would lead to clear answers or improved management at this time, but such a person might be aware of developments as new research is done in future years, i.e. perhaps an inside track to improved management down the line.
Sorry I can't be more helpful. Best wishes-- HHH, MD
As an added piece of information, my wife has never had an abnormal pap
You are reading content posted in the STDs Forum
Herpes spreads by oral, vaginal and anal sex.
Herpes sores blister, then burst, scab and heal.
STIs are the most common cause of genital sores.
Millions of people are diagnosed with STDs in the U.S. each year.
STDs can't be transmitted by casual contact, like hugging or touching.
Syphilis is an STD that is transmitted by oral, genital and anal sex.
