hpv treated, but was it ingrown hair?

[michael1212]

So I have been dating a girl for a 1.5 yrs now and she told me she had hpv.  I went to get checked out and they said they found 3 warts. 1 visable (main one) the other 2 I couldnt even see. I had a flesh like color bump  maybe 1/2 inch from the base, (thats the main one).  It had like 2 pubic hairs growing out so I thought it was just ingrown hair.  So they used tc to remove them.  About 3 days later I was in the shower and while cleaning the main on fell off.  Since then I have been putting first aid anitbiotic ointment about 3 times a day so it wouldnt get infected since it hasnt scabed over.  Now about week and a few days later, the bump the area were the wart was is small and still red, but where the hairs are growing out, its white.  What is that?  Was it a ingrown hair and not wart?  Also when I went to the clinc to get tested they told me no sex for 2 weeks.  Do you think its safe to have sex?  Even with a condom?  Also I have heard that tanning helps with genital warts too, is that true?

-thanks

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

I can't diagnose anything by long distance description and won't try.  Warts never have hairs growing out of them; and most genital warts in men are on th epenis, not the pubic area.  On the other hand, visual diagnosis of warts by an experienced provider usually is valid.  Personal exam by the person or clinic who diagnosed and treated the lesions, or by another knowledgeable provider, is the way to sort this out.

Does your partner have genita warts or asymptomatic HPV found by pap smear?  If the latter, there is no particular reason so suspect you have genital warts; different types of HPV typically cause warts versus pap smear abnormalities.  (Most experts do not recommend routine exam of partners of people with HPV unless they notice warts themselves.)  So if your partner didn't have actual warts, that tends to argue against warts as the diagnosis of your symptoms.  

Not knowing for sure the diagnosis, I cannot advise you about potential risks to a sex partner.  But if you and your partner both have genital warts, you cannot re-infect her.

I have never heard that tanning has any effect on genital warts; I cannot imagine that it does.

Good luck--  HHH, MD

[michael1212]

Thanks for the response.  But what do you think that the treated area of my wart or whatever it my be, why is there a white color to it where hair is growing out?

[michael1212]

Also the wart or growth is like a 1/2 inch from base, on the shaft.

[Englishman]

The white area is probably a scar as a result of the treatment. Scars on the penis take about a couple of months to fully heal (i.e. turn back to normal colour). This is from personal experience of having molluscum warts frozen off. I guess the same would be true from acid treatment.

[Englishman]

That electronic profanity filter needs sorting out. It took the C-U-M out of molluscum. Bizarre.