Questions?

[matrixreloaded]

K, first question.  I know that genital warts CAN display as a single bump or as a cluster, but, in usual terms, does it usually display as a single bump or in a cluster (there'll be at least a few of them, especially for the first outbreak)?

Second, if genital warts can start out as a single bump, I know it can either grow, multiply, or disappear but what would it usually do if left untreated?  Does it usually grow/multiply or disappear? Or there's no way to tell what it would USUALLY do?

Third, even if genital warts are untreated, and say they disappear on their own without being treated, do breakouts often recur?

Fourth, I've read that anal warts can appear whether or not there was rectal exposure.  But, is it fair to say that the chances of genital warts displaying in the anal area is significantly increased if there was in fact anal contact compared to none?

I know I've posted this in the HPV forum but It's been almost 2 weeks and NO ONE bothered to reply.  If someone replies on this forum I'd greatly appreciate it (I added a couple more questions so if those can be answered, that would be great)

[auntiejessi]

I see no reason to tell anyone that.  Nothing was diagnosed, and chances are, it wasn't a wart.  

Aj

[jackbauer3471]

ok well, let's say for the sake of argument that I am those rare people who even though they've never had anal contact, still had a genital wart appear on their butt, and that even without having sex had contracted it through hand-genital contact or brief genital-genital exposure.  What's the right thing to do?  A bump can be a million things but do I have to walk around for a few months with a nag on my head and inform future partners that even though I had the slimmest of chances of even contracting a wart and having it appear on my butt w/o anal contact that I might have had an STD even though I was never diagnosed and god knows what the bump was?

[auntiejessi]

I have NO idea why there is stigma surrounding any std, much less HPV.  We don't have stigma for colds, flus, strep, etc., and they are all just viruses and bacteria like stds are.

I think we get all tripped up on the sex part.

If you haven't had sex, you have nothing to worry about.

Aj

[jackbauer3471]

thanks for that info auntiejessi.  But, why the huge stigma around genital warts?  I was reading a thread today 'living with genital warts' and people treat it as if it's herpes, or AIDS... something they have to disclose to potential partners for the rest of their life... shouldn't everyone know that it clears with no chance of transmission in 6 months after the last occurrence more or less?

thanks for letting me know that it clears, but it's still depressing in a sense.  sorry i'm just being real here because even though it clears, there's really no guarantee.  it might or might not clear.  and you can still be the 10%.  no matter which way you spin it, if one has it, life won't be the same anymore.

so, what about my case?  i've heard everything there is.  that it's highly unlikely that i have it.  i've never even had intercourse and i've been stressing over an STD for so long now.  how ironic is that?  I hate the fact that I could have it, though I most likely don't.  How am I supposed to live now?  Do I have to tell everyone, "Hey, I might have an STD?

and if it does clear like you say, why do so many people on this forum treat the disease as if it's the same as the way you should disclose herpes or HIV?

[auntiejessi]

Actually, you wouldn't have to.  HPV clears from your system, 90% clear it within 2 years, and most of those within 8 months.

Once you have had no symptoms for several months, you are probably not infectious anymore.

http://www.ashastd.org/hpv/hpv_learn.cfm

80% of people will have hpv in their lifetimes, and if those 20% who don't only stuck with those who didn't, they would have extremely limited dating pools.

Aj

[jackbauer3471]

Yeah it would change things.  If it was a wart then I have to go through the whole 'I have a moral obligation to inform future partners that I could transmit an STD to them' business for the rest of my life.  Why else would I be obsessing?  Excuse the sarcasm but that's why I'm obsessing.  Then the whole I'll probably get rejected and no one would want to be with me.  That's the scary thought about all this.

[auntiejessi]

I asked a good friend of mine about this.  I call him the HPV guru.  This is his answer:

"Very little is known about HPV transmission. Some ideas that I can come up
with include virus riding on vaginal fluid and sweat, virus infecting
adjacent skin cells until it makes it to the anus, or virus riding on pubic
hairs that fall off in the underwear and make their way to the anus."

Personally, I think the first 2 make more sense than the last one, but who knows?

Why are you obsessing on this?  What if it was a wart?  Would that change things for you in any real way?

[jackbauer3471]

hi auntiejessi, i think i should have rephrased my question.  i really need this answered or else it'll bug me that it could have been a wart.

Dr. Hook says HPV is transmitted by direct contact and places that did not touch are not infected, yet both dr. hook and dr. handsfield acknowledge that it is not too rare for straight men to get anal warts.  

if places that did not touch are not infected, how is it scientifically possible for a wart to appear where there was no contact?  So, by that logic, the reverse is true, people who are the recipient of anal sex can get penile warts? it's just all so confusing.

[auntiejessi]

Honestly, I don't know.  I don't know if anyone really knows if the warts are just picking another place to appear, or if there is virus in the fluid.  HPV is spread via skin to skin contact, but its probably possible for there to be virus in secretions if they run over infected skin.

Aj

[jackbauer3471]

OK yeah, let me get this straight... i read a couple posts by dr. hook. one says that places that didn't touch aren't infected (so penile means penile warts, anal means anal warts, oral, though rare, means oral warts) and the other says that it is not uncommon in straight men to have anal warts who don't have anal sex... but even in straight men, do you agree that vaginal fluid at least has to come into contact with your anal area or buttcheeks or can you get infected on your penis and a wart can choose to present itself anally or on a butt cheek?

[matrixreloaded]

no, i haven't.  it's gone so getting checked is impossible.  auntiejessi, if you can, could you please answer this question not just for myself but for the education of everyone who uses this forum, it would be a great benefit.

so when you mention that it's possible to have an anal wart without anal sex, does that still mean genital secretions at least still have to make contact with the anal area for warts to appear there? or can you still have an anal wart by virtue of getting infected on your penis, then the virus travels down nerve lines all the way to your anal area and then a wart will appear there?

this will be my last post ever, if you could answer that question i would greatly appreciate it.  thank you so much for your help! i am really grateful.

[auntiejessi]

1 - They are usually on the anal area, not the butt cheek.  If you only have 1 on a cheek, its not likely to be genital warts.  Have you gotten it checked yet?

2 - Yes, still no risk.

Aj

[matrixreloaded]

hey jackbauer3471, welcome to the forum! :)

[matrixreloaded]

thanks so much auntiejessi, your informative reply is well appreciated, i would like to clarify a couple of the points; each point will correspond to the answers you gave... i just want to clarify so that i can truly put this behind me and move on with my life.

1. you said anal warts appear in or around the anus, so it is impossible that anal warts appear on the buttcheek, they would have to appear truly near the anal opening? so when you mention that it's possible to have an anal wart without anal sex, does that still mean genital secretions at least still have to make contact with the anal area for warts to appear there? or can you still have an anal wart by virtue of getting infected on your penis, then the virus travels down nerve lines all the way to your anal area and then a wart will appear there?

2. still zero risk if the vaginal fluids are fresh and you immediately touch your own penis?

thanks again, i appreciate your reply and you are doing a great service on this forum! :)

[auntiejessi]

1 - No, and anal warts are warts right on or around the anus.  

2 - Zero risk for HPV.

3 - I never said I was certain he didn't have a wart.  I said it didn't sound like one after he described it as an ingrown hair or pimple.  Only a doctor would have been able to make that diagnosis.

4 - I think 8 months is average, give or take.

5 - There are theories about this.  I'd say its possible, and that's the best we know at this time.

And again, as I said to ML, you need to get this checked if you think its a wart.

[jackbauer3471]

5. in addition to the above post, i have read genital-hand-genital contact does not transmit hpv yet some say it does occur, what is the verdict?  does genital-hand-genital (such as that in mutual masturbation with fresh vaginal fluids being transferred by hand to one's own penis) actually possible as far as hpv transmission is concerned?

[jackbauer3471]

i was in a similar situation where i also felt an anal bump that has since been gone.  the only things i've done was to be the recipient of oral sex (from a female;i am a straight male), mutual masturbation where i have gotten fresh vaginal fluids on my hands and with the same hand touched my own genitals (penis only), perhaps some very brief penis/vagina contact (i was wearing a condom but who knows if other areas like my scrotum came into contact).  

i've been reading threads here and there, and there has been some conflict of information i'd like to clarify.  my concern is that the anal bump was a wart.  i've read in the expert forum that places that aren't touched are not infected by HPV so if nothing touched your anal area (whether it's another's genital secretions or direct contact with genitals) there is no chance of infection in that area making it impossible for a wart to appear in the anal area, is this true?  on the contrary i've read that there does not need to be any direct contact with the anal area for a wart to present itself there, so for example if you contracted genital warts through contact with your penis, is it still possible for a wart to appear in the anal area without anal contact?

1. is it possible for an anal wart to appear on your buttcheek though there was either no contact with vaginal fluid or direct contact with another's genitals and your anal area?

2. how high is the risk of hpv transmission given my exposures? is it safe to say it is near zero or practically zero risk for hpv transmission?

3. on what grounds is auntiejessie confident that matrixreloaded did not have a wart in the anal area?

4. i read above that the disappearance of genital/anal warts vary from person to person, but without treating a wart, how long on average does a genital/anal wart take to disappear?  

[matrixreloaded]

Oh skin variations can make bumps on your skin that just appear then disappear?  I didn't know that.  Thanks.

[auntiejessi]

I'd doubt this is a wart, really.  Most likely, it was just a skin variation.

Warts will eventually disappear, and how long that takes really varies from person to person.  

Aj

[matrixreloaded]

Is it common for warts to disappear without treatment?  I read like it can take 6-18 months to disappear even WITH treatment.  Is it likely to have spontaneously appeared then disappeared?  Like I said, I can't say how long it was there for, maybe months?  But I doubt that.

[matrixreloaded]

I really don't remember how long.  Though, in retrospect I don't think it was there that long.  If it was there for months I think I would've noticed it, but who knows?  Maybe my mind is in denial about how long it was.  And I didn't engage in anything anal, so that lessens the chance that i was indeed a wart.  I can't have it looked at, all I can go by is likelihood, thus why I'm on this forum.  I'm thinking it might've been an ingrown hair or a pimple.  Like you said it could be many things, I guess I was just looking for extra assurance that it more than likely was not a wart.

[auntiejessi]

I meant that its more common to have more than one wart than to have just one.

How long did you have it before it went away?

And sometimes bumps are just normal skin things that happen.

Aj

[matrixreloaded]

Thank you for your prompt reply.  I just wanted to clarify a couple of things.  First, you said in the first statement that there's usually a few, and in the second you said there is no 'usually' (that some have single bumps and some have many).  What do you mean?

The bump you speak of, it was on my butt and has disappeared without treatment so I can't have it looked at even if I wanted to.  To my best recollection it was only a single bump.  I've never engaged in any anal contact, but it scares me to think that it can still appear there even if there was none.  It seems to me that genital warts (based on impressions of what I've read) are pretty resilient and usually need treatment to disappear or is it pretty common to disappear without treatment?  This bump, whatever it was, disappeared on its own.  Does this make it less likely that it was indeed a wart?

[auntiejessi]

Honestly, it could go either way, but there are usually a few of them, even if they aren't clustered together.  A single bump can be many different things, mostly non-std skin issues.

(You aren't going to like me much after I answer these, by the way lol)

There is no usually.  Some people will just get one, and others will get more.

Repeat outbreaks are common, but its also common to not ever have another one.

Yes, your chances of anal warts is higher if you've had anal contact.

Now my turn -

You clearly have a bump (or a partner does), and I wonder if you've gone to the doctor.  That's the only way you can get a diagnosis.  Bumps can be many things, and you can't narrow it down on symptoms.

Aj