I would like to know if Aldara is now being prescribed for skin tags.

[srad2001]

I recently found out that my boyfriend is on this medication and he claims his derm told him it was to treat skin tags in his genital area. I have only come across literature stating it is a genital wart treatment. Is it now a known effective skin tag treatment? Why wouldnt his doctor pick a more conservative commonly used method over a medication with lots of adverse side effects? Perhaps my boyfriend lying to me/maybe his derm isnt being honest with him. There are a lot of possibilities here and I simply would like your expert opinion so I know whether or not I have possibly been exposed to genital warts.

[purple1234567]

I'm not an expert, but from what I understand it is used to treat other things then just warts and has been used to treat areas of concern regarding skin cancer- as far as skin tags in the genital area- I believe they just remove them more then give you medication for them.  I'd head to your local pharmacy and just ask them if they know of this medication being used for skin tags- your pharmacists are usually the biggest help when it comes to uses and interactions of prescriptions.  It wouldn't hurt to just go get tested either, it's not abnormal to get a regular panel of STD tests run if you are sexually active as a precaution.  

[srad2001]

I got tested for all STDs except genital warts.  My results were negative. My doctor said that there was no way to test for warts until I actually have a visible bump. This person is now my ex. I don't want to move on with my life and find out that I've been spreading gw. I'm so terrified. I only had sex with my ex one time. We used a condom but he took it off during. I noticed it wasn't on anymore about halfway through. I figured it was too late at this point and I'm on birth control, so I let him finish. He tried to go for round two but when I put my hand on his penis I felt a strange bump. It was dark so I really couldn't see it. He said it was a skin tag, something like a mole. He said he had it for at least 7 years and that I wasn't the first woman he'd explained this to. He tried showing it to me with the light on but I was disgusted and didn't want to deal with him at that point. I told him we couldn't have sex again until he got tested. So he claimed he went to the VA hospital and they took a biopsy.  He said that since he wanted it frozen off he had to set an appointment. So they gave he the imiquimod cream to use in the mean time. His discharge papers say "discharge diagnosis: small skin tag(s) on penis (condylomata acuminata)." Why does it say skin tag and genital warts? I'm confused.  Which is it?

[purple1234567]

I would think it says both because technically a genital wart is a growth (skin tag), but with the specific wording condylomata acuminata- I'm betting that he had genital warts not just simple skin tags.  Have you had the HPV vaccination?  As far as future precautions, you should make sure any sexual intercourse is protected in the future as sometimes it does take time for an infection to present itself- I'd also recommend posting in the HPV forum here so you can have more specific questions about your exposure answered by someone with a bit more information on HPV specifically- https://medhelp.org/forums/Human-Papillomavirus-HPV/show/196

Hope that helps, I'm sure this is a very frustrating thing to have to walk through!