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HPV

Basically i found out when i was 18 that i got genital warts from my first girlfriend and they went away after a few months on their own. i never went to a doctor because i was afraid. i did a lot of research and read that my immune system took care of it. Im now 26 and have had a total of 5 partners.  . im now with a girl that i love who is a virgin and i care for deeply.She will be a virgin until she marrys. Im on the fence of telling her that i had hpv and possibly contracted again with one of my other partners.Ive seen two doctors recently and they tell me im fine. One told me not to say anything and the other said it would be good to be open and honest about it, if your thinking about marrying her. I told myself that i would tell her one day if we got more serious, but this morning we naked dryhumped where my penis was on her vagina for about 4 to 6 minutes if that and when i was done i felt very guilty and im now constantly thinking about it. I just want some advice. Did i give her anything? is there a possibility that i did? I dont think i have hpv  anymore, but im not certaintly sure and that scares me. I want to tell her, but i was not ready to tell her just yet. what do you think? Should i bring it up?
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239123 tn?1267647614
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
It's closer to 60%, not 90% -- but still it's certainly possible to have genital herpes without recognized symptoms.  But given your conservative sexual lifestyle, I wouldn't recommend testing for it.  The tests aren't perfect, and when the risk of infection is low, there can be problems with confusing and upsetting false results.  Don't worry about it.
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Avatar universal
not sure if this is still open for a response, but i was reading about herpes and i have never seen any signs or symptoms of that ever. I had an ingrown hair once and that is the only thing i can really think of that might be something even close. i was reading that 90 percent of people who have it dont know about it. Is this true? is there a test for it? and do you think im ok and should stop worrying about all this stuff?
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Avatar universal
THANKS FOR YOUR ADVICE! I went ahead and told her and it went very well! I couldnt hold it in any longer. i felt like she should at least know that im thinking about it and the only way for me to stop feeling guilty was to tell her. Honestly it wasnt a big deal to her at all, which makes me so happy. I was talking about non clothed humping which she did prefer that i should have brought that up before the fact and is curious about it having an affect on her, but she already knows a good deal about the topic, which makes it easier. I feel like with the amount of people who have HPV that people should be talking about it more so its a comfortable subject. there is no reason for this anxiety that i had and millions of others are having. If it were just talked about more this would be so much easier and would probably slow down the infection rate. Thats my dream anyway.
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239123 tn?1267647614
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
In my reply above, I assumed that by dry humping you meant with clothing.  If you are having unclothed genital apposition without penetration ("outercourse"), then if you are carrying HPV, there could be some chance of transmission.  But that doesn't change my main opinions and advice.
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239123 tn?1267647614
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Welcome to the STD forum.

It is very unlikely you still have the HPV infection that caused your warts; HPV infections, especially the wart-causing types, usually are gone in a matter of months and cannot then be transmitted to sex partners.  However, having had a few sex partners since then, most likely you have had other HPV infections that you don't know about, and you could conceivably could still be carrying it.  No test is available, so there is no way to know.  Of course this is entirely normal; HPV is unavoidable in sexually active people.  Also, some virgins catch genital HPV infections; exactly how is not known.  These reasons are why all women need regular pap smears.  Even if you are correct that she has never had sex with anyone else and never will, she could still have an abnormal pap smear or other HPV problem someday.

I'm not saying you have HPV.  In general, it sounds like you have led a conservative sex life by modern standards, and there is absolutely no reason for you to feel guilty because of the limited sexual activity you have had with your current partner.  Even if you had had unprotected intercourse, there would be no reason for guilt about it.  (If everyone with past warts or other HPV problem avoided sex out of guilt, most people could never have sex!)  In any case, dry humping doesn't transmit HPV.

And for many of the same reasons, your partner should consider getting immunized with Gardasil, one of the two available HPV vaccines.  It will prevent her from getting warts (in the unlikely chance you still carry that particular virus), and also will protect her from the 2 HPV types that cause most cases of cervical cancer.  She should discuss it with her primary care doctor.  (Be aware that it takes at least the first 2 vaccine doses -- i.e. a couple of months -- for the vaccine to provide partial protection, and full protection requires the third dose at 6 months.)

As for informing your partner about your distant past warts, there is no medical reason to do so.  However, in the interest of open, healthy relationships, many couples discuss their past sexual and STD experiences.  But many do not, and this is a relationship issue, not a medical one.  You could get some opinions about this (probably with both points of view) on the MedHelp HPV community forum.

Here are a couple of older threads that discuss these things in more detail.

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/STDs/hpv-QA/show/742564
http://www.medhelp.org/posts/STDs/Handsfield-6-month-disclosure-guidelines/show/552283

Bottom line:  This is a non-issue, or should be.  Don't let it bother you.

Regards--  HHH, MD
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Avatar universal
also since we did dry hump there is a high possiblity that we will keep doing this, so is that a good reason to go ahead and say something?
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