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a little worried

I have had genital warts for 5 years now and ive been using aldara for quite some time. aldara seems to work pretty well for the most part. while using aldara frequeantly i would experience some side effects like some pain or swelling after using it for a long period of time. i would stop the use and the redness/ swelling would go away and i would contine use and everything would be okay. recently i bought an aldara imitation cream, not the same brand name as aldara and have been experiencing more of a rash like reddish irritation where i use the cream. when i stop using it it will almost go away totaly but when i start back up using the cream the same rash in the same place will re appear.
so im not sure if its the cheaper cream or if i have herpes. its not very painful like people explain herpes to be but sometimes it will scab and it never oozes and again its not very painful and it doesnt really blister.
so i guess my hopeful thinking has me thinking its just the cheap aldara imitation cream that was cheaper to buy or it is possible herpes.  also ive found that this cream seems like a more watery consistancy then the real aldara cream and it doesnt work as well with the warts as the real aldara cream. any advice would be great or if anyone has experiences the same thing.
thank you very much...
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207091 tn?1337709493
COMMUNITY LEADER
Hi there -

Do you have insurance?  If you don't, you should check with your health dept and find out what assistance programs you might qualify for.  You might even check with an std clinic and see what they think about all this.

Aj
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
i dont believe ive had them biopsied. i went through blood tests and what not when i was first diagnosed. but im not a very wealthy person and going to the doctor and the skin doctor is very expensive so im not really sure what to do because i cant afford it...
Helpful - 0
207091 tn?1337709493
COMMUNITY LEADER
Hi there -

Have you had any of these warts biopsied?  5 years is a very long time to be dealing with this.  Most people will get rid of it in 2 years.  I'd want to make sure that this is indeed warts before I kept treating it.

Aldara and the imitations can cause irritation.  If it goes away when you stop using it, its the aldara.

If you are concerned about herpes, ask your doc for a type specific IgG blood test.

Aj
Helpful - 0
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