How can I know what is best?

[beth170]

Hi, I recently noticed two little warts far up on my groin. I showed them to my family Dr. and asked if I needed to worry about it with my sexual partner at that time. She said no and she sent me to a dermatologist to have them removed. The dermatologist said they were genital warts and removed them about a month ago by freezing them and so far no new warts have appeared and the ones I have are gone but the scar is still red. Every day I run my fingers over all parts of my groin and gentials and so far I have found no new bumps. At the same time the warts were developing I had two abnormal paps in a row and was sent for a colposcopy which was normal and negative for HPV. Obiously the colposcopy and paps cannot test or show any information about the warts on my groin or the test would have been positive for HPV, since I clearly have it. So, here are a couple of my concerns:

1. I have read what many of you Dr.s here say about the clearing of the virus and how you are pretty much good to go with sex again once your tests show you have cleared the virus. But, since there is no real test to show if my HPV has cleared because the warts are not in my cervix how can I tell if the virus has cleared? I recently started dating someone and we are hoping to have sex soon but I don't want to take any risks with his sexual health and neither does he.

2. My family Dr. says I will always need to tell people I have genital warts even when they are gone for years. That doesn't seem to be the advice many Dr.s on this forum suggest including Dr. Hunter Handsfield who I would regard as an absolute expert on the matter. Why is there the division? I really don't want to have to tell future partners if I don't have to (if I know I have cleared the HPV) but I don't want to put someone I care about or could care about at risk in any way. I feel that the Drs on this site have loads more information and experience with this than my family Dr, How can I decide who to listen to?

3. To further complicate matters, my family Dr did a pap last week and she said it showed mild dysplasia and has scheduled me to see an ObGyn for another colposcopy. My Dr didn't tell me this also means HPV. Is this a different strain of HPV or is it possible the same strain that is causing my warts is also causing the dysplsia? I am very hopeful that soon I will be clear of the HPV in my paps and in the colposcopies (I'm told I may have to have many to get rid of it all). Once is the least scary thing I can say to future sexual partners and still be truthful with them and make sure they are not at all at risk? When I found out about the warts I looked at many reputable sources on the internet and they scared the life out of me. I want to avoid my partners being scared like that if they don't have to be.

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions.

[gracefromHHP]

if you tested negative for hpv on your cervix when you had your first colposcopy, unless you've had a new partner since then. odds are you don't have hpv causing your cervical issues. Indeed it is possible to have abnormal paps and then the follow up colposcopy and biopsy's are negative.   You should be having follow up paps every 6 months for a few years to try to get to the bottom of what is going on on your cervix.

so what is real world advice for genital warts and a new partner? Well first of all, since it was only a month ago and you are still going through follow up for your cervical issues, you do need to talk about it. Not only does it show your new partner that you are a woman of integrity, it also allows you to protect yourself!!!  Ask if your partner has had their gardasil shots. Ask if they use condoms regularly.  Let them know that you just had warts removed a month ago and you can't guarantee at this point that you aren't still contagious.  Genital warts are just a cosmetic issue - they aren't pretty to deal with but they aren't a health concern.  

proper condom use has been shown to reduce transmission of hpv by 90% - that means the condom goes on when the clothing comes off.  waiting until just actual penetration to put on the condom isn't protecting yourself or your partners enough. Now obviously a condom won't help with genital warts on the groin area but it will help if you really do have hpv on your cervix to protect your partner. If you don't have a type of hpv that infects the cervix , you certainly want to keep the odds in your favor of not contracting it now from a partner.

keep asking questions!

grace

[shaken2core]

Dysplasia is a term for abnormal cells. It could be another strain, but it may be difficult to tell.  Follow up with the ObGyn will be your best bet on discussing these questions.

Your family doctor is being cautious, which I believe is a good thing.  Although I believe Dr. HHH and EWH are very knowledgable and have years of experience, I think a lot of other doctors will error on the side of caution because they don't have as much experience with STD's.  It may be a good idea to tell future sex partners but show them things that Dr. HHH has said about HPV so that they don't freak out.  

A lot of web sites do present STD's in a very scary manner, but the goal is prevention and make people be very concious about what they are doing instead of thinking unprotected sex is no big deal.  I find the best things to read are studies and research that has been done on larger groups.  

Sorry, I don't think I was much help here, but I hope that helps a little.  I'm sure others will chime in with better answers.