Hi, I'm trying to put my situation into perspective. I'm male, straight, age 33, always used condoms consistently.
In Nov. 2008 I found a single wart at the base of my penis. Visual diagnosis from a doctor. I was referred to a dermatologist, and offered Aldara in the meantime. The wait for a derm appointment was long; the wart seemed to clear up with the Aldara in about 2-3 months. Once I stopped the Aldara, a small bump appeared slowly over the next 4-5 months.
In Oct. 2009, I had a single cryotherapy application from the dermatologist, who said it looked like a tiny wart. In Dec. 2010, I returned to the dermatologist because the same area again looked abnormal to me. He said it looked ok, perhaps a bit hard to tell because of a hair follicle--he was hesitant to do a cryo application unless I insisted so we agreed to watch and wait.
In Sept./Oct 2012, I noticed the area was slightly raised and returned to the dermatologist. Because of my history, and the fact it was raised, he indicated he would treat this as a wart. We agreed to do a biopsy, which indicated it was benign but consistent with a wart. I returned after biopsy result and had the area treated with cryo, in case the surgical excision did not get it all.
Now, it has been two months since that last treatment, and over 4 years since the original wart was found. This all pertains to the same single area. I feel like I was not aggressive enough in getting it treated early on, though it was tiny and ambiguous even by the dermatologist's opinion. Does my delay in treatment affect the long term results? Does the fact that there was still some remnant on the skin after 4 years indicate a continuing active infection or could it just be a surface remnant of the virus that cleared already?
I am recently divorced and have avoided dating so far but I would like to start. My skin is clear as of now. How long should I be considered contagious, given the time frame involved?