Its been awhile

[Tape5]

Hi I’m a straight 23 year old male. Just a little of my medical background: When I was 3 years old I suffered from traumatic brain injury on the left side of my head which affect the right side of my body. On top of that I have a bladder condition called Interstitial Cystitis. I used to smoke off and on but not a lot and I still drink but very rarely. I just wanted you to be aware of these. I’m not a sexually active guy. It’s been almost 3 years since my first and only sexual exposure. So I’ve only had vaginal sex one time my whole life. It was unprotected. She also gave me oral 3 times which were also unprotected. That’s my sexual background. I know she had anywhere from 3-5 partners before me. I’m not concerned about STDs. I had testicular pains a few years ago but that was treated for. My urologist stated that it was Trich but it probably wasn’t. I’ve been having testicular pains within the past week as well but they’ve subsided a lot as of lately. The only STD that sticks in the back of mind is HPV-Genital Warts. I’ve been to my dermatologist several times to check it out. I have a lot of hair follicles all over my penis. They range in size a good bit. Some have hair growing out while some don’t. Sometimes my skin is slightly red at the base anyway. It does itch down there sometimes but that could be anything.He also checked my anus because I felt something but he said it was a small hemorrhoid. I was afraid maybe it was an anal wart. Anyway One of my questions is what if he missed a bump that might be a genital wart? Will it go away eventually if he did? I’ve heard that penile cancer is very rare. How rare is it exactly? I think about the possibility of having Genital Warts every day. Given my medical background should I be at all worried that if I in fact have HPV-Genital Warts would it complicate things later on in life? I just want to put my mind at ease for a change. I have to mention that the girl who I had sex with is now married with a child. Thank you  

[Edward W Hook, MD]

I think the important this here is that they are not something to worry about.  We are glad the this on line forum is of assistance to you but it is not meant to take the place of being seen and examined in person by trained clinicians.  My guess is that the bumps you have noticed are normal and the the changes you note may be a consequence of changes in blood flow.  If you are still concerned however, my advice would be to go back to your dermatologist.

Last post.  Good luck.  EWH

[Tape5]

Thank you. I have one more concern and then I promise this discussion will be over. I know you must be extremely busy with other people with std issues. I might need to take this question to the dermatology forum but I figured I would go on and ask it here. On my penis head I have very small bumps that are hard to see at times. They get red on occasion and sometimes you can't even see them because they're so small. They're kinda scattered out and I really don't think about them much at. Thats why I forgot to put it in my initial message (my apologies). They're mainly on the right side of the penis head at least thats all I've noticed there may be some others on the left side too. After everything you've told me about my situation I feel confident that its really nothing to concerned about. Do you agree? If you think it would be best to take this question to other forum then I completely understand. You have been so helpful to me with my other questions and I truly do appreciate it.  

[Edward W Hook, MD]

thanks for the additional information.  You are right however, this additional information does not change my assessment or advice.  You have the advice of your dermatologist to go on after he had the chance to directly examine you.  We all have a lot of bumps which change in character and appearance from time the time in normal life which are not due to STDs.  these are likely what you are seeing.  EWH

[Tape5]

I have one more small detail about the bumps. In some places they do bunch up but they really don't look any different than the rest of them. I really doubt that changed your advice any. I just thought it was worth mentioning.

[Tape5]

Yes it is very helpful to me. I feel a lot better about things now. Another thing I wanted to add to is that a few weeks ago one of the bumps at the base of my penis became red and enlarged. It had almost a pimple look to it but in a weeks time it was completely gone. I told my dermatologist about it. He looked were it was and just discarded it I guess because it was really no big issue. Thats it. I just wanted to mention that too. I guess since he thought it wasn't a concern I shouldn't be concerned about it either. Thank you again for your advice!

[Edward W Hook, MD]

HPV infection/warts should not be health concern for you.  You chances of having gotten HPV from your single exposure is small and if you had gotten infected, over 98% of these infections resolve (go away) on their own without treatment.  Of those which persist, far less than one tenth or 1% (e.g. less than 1 in 1000) go on to form cancer (this is a ball park estimate only- it may be even smaller).  Thus our usual counsel to folks on this web site about warts is not to worry about them.  In your case, we don't even know that you have them (and I doubt that you do), so you have much, much less to worry about.

It sounds as though the bumps in your genital region are folliculitis.  These are not STDs and are not a reason for concern.

My advice is to not worry further about warts.  I hope this is helpful to you.   EWH