What to do if you contract HPV
The most important step to dealing with HPV, or human papilloma virus, is prevention. If you’re having sex with a new partner, and you have not yet had STD tests conducted for both parties, always, always, always use a condom. A condom does not guarantee, 100%, that no viruses will be passed from partner to partner, but condoms which have been properly tested, and applied correctly, do work almost all of the time.
Another form of prevention would be the vaccine. The HPV vaccine is something of a medical miracle, really. Tens of thousands of women die every year thanks to cervical cancer resulting from an HPV infection. With the vaccine, we can put a dent in that number. However, even if you have been vaccinated, you should always practice safe sex, as HPV isn’t the only sexually transmitted disease that you have to watch out for.
That said, if you do contract HPV, there are a few steps you should take…
Contact your Doctor
Okay, hand warts and plantar warts are pretty easy to identify, and can usually be treated pretty easily with over the counter remedies, if they don’t go away on their own. You don’t have to run to the doctor’s office every single time you get a wart on your hand or foot. However, if you have contracted a genital strain of HPV, or if you have a persistent infection that just won’t go away, it’s a good idea to talk to your doctor.
This should be in addition to regular checkups. For example, the HPV strain which causes cervical cancer does not cause warts, and can only be identified by a pap smear. Uncomfortable as that whole deal may be, it might save your life, so get a thorough check-up whenever you can.
At Home Treatment
If you want to get some over the counter medication for your warts, go ahead and take your pick. Read the instructions carefully and make sure you apply the treatment correctly.
But, you don’t even have to spend any money to treat your warts. The old wife’s tale of getting warts from frogs is bogus, but there are plenty of home remedies that actually work on common warts. For example, if you take a tiny chunk of raw garlic and apply it to your wart with a piece of tape, the acid in the vegetable will actually help to dissolve your wart. The same goes for applying white vinegar to your wart.
Whatever you do, don’t try to perform a surgical operation on yourself! Doctors often remove warts manually with a scalpel, lasers, or even a pair of scissors, but they use tools that are sterilized, they know what to do in the event of bleeding, and they know when and where it’s safe to cut. This isn’t a problem you can solve with a sewing kit!
Just Ignore It
If you’ve only got a couple tiny little warts on the back of your hand… honestly, it’s not that big a deal. If you have a serious infection, you should certainly talk to a doctor or apply some sort of treatment, but if it’s just a minor little bump, it should take care of itself in time if you just make sure to eat healthy and get some exercise to keep your immune system in fighting shape.
nikita kirsov says:
had hpv warts (little ones at base of penis and used podofilox and so far no recurrent symptoms. however I tried using tinamed first on some of them and these didnt go away – they look smaller and scarlike. How do I deal with this? I’m at nikitasoz@hotmail.com please respond HELP
November 15th, 2008 at 5:44 am
jitendra says:
My wife has 8 month pregnancy and she is infected with
genital warts .She has taken cryosurgery with Nitrogen
Gas once but warts are not removed .What should we
do for safe delivery of the child .Whether we should go
for cesarion for safe delivery so that the child does not get
infected .
August 25th, 2009 at 8:27 am