You’ve heard of genital warts, but never seen one – Get to know genital warts!

Author: Wu Hao, Chief Physician, Beijing You'an Hospital, Capital Medical University

Standing Committee Member of the Infection and Immunity Branch of the Chinese Medical Association

Reviewer: Chen Yong, Chief Physician, Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, Capital Medical University

Do you know about genital warts?

Genital warts are a skin disease caused by infection with human papillomavirus, or HPV. There are generally three types of HPV that cause genital warts, which are transmitted through sexual contact.

During sexual contact, if the other person has genital warts or carries the HPV that causes genital warts, there will be friction on the local skin during sexual intercourse, and the skin barrier may be damaged after friction, making it easy to be infected with the HPV that causes genital warts.

After infection with HPV that causes genital warts, the disease generally does not occur immediately, and the skin will show symptoms after a period of time. The incubation period is about three months. After the incubation period, the virus that causes genital warts multiplies in the local epithelium, causing a rash.

Genital warts are mainly transmitted through sexual contact, and the proportion of genital warts transmitted through sexual contact is about two-thirds. That is to say, patients with genital warts have a two-thirds chance of transmitting the disease to their sexual partners.

Figure 1 Original copyright image, no permission to reprint

The incidence of genital warts is generally not too high, ranking behind gonorrhea and chlamydia infection, but it is highly contagious and prone to recurrence, so people are quite afraid of this disease.

Many people may not have seen genital warts and don’t know what they look like. Let’s get to know genital warts below.

1. What are the characteristics of genital warts?

Genital warts usually grow on the external genitalia, perineum, glans penis, coronal sulcus, urethral opening, and anus, which are the most common sites. Of course, they can also grow in the mouth, on the nose, and other places, but they are relatively rare.

Why do they grow in the mouth? Because with the openness of people’s minds, oral sex has become a very common form of sexual intercourse, so the oral mucosa will be infected with the virus that causes genital warts, and then genital warts will grow.

What does genital warts look like? The rash of genital warts is higher than the skin surface, and is like cauliflower-like warts. Unlike normal skin, it does not hurt or itch, but it will grow bigger and bigger, and it will grow particularly fast when the immune system is low.

Figure 2 Original copyright image, no permission to reprint

Generally speaking, genital warts only grow locally, often in a certain place on the genitals. They will not grow on the entire genitals, nor will they spread throughout the body or enter the blood, and will not cause any serious damage to the whole body.

Because genital warts grow on the genitals, they can affect appearance and psychology. Many people with genital warts have a strong desire to seek medical treatment. Generally, they will take the initiative to seek medical treatment if they find abnormalities in the genital skin.

2. What examinations are needed to diagnose genital warts?

Generally speaking, it is not difficult to diagnose typical genital warts, and an experienced doctor can tell them at a glance.

Generally, two tests are required to diagnose genital warts: one is a confirmatory test, which can be used to test for human papillomavirus and detect the type of human papillomavirus; the other is an acetic acid white test.

The acetic acid whitening test is mainly used for latent infection of human papillomavirus or genital warts and subclinical manifestations of genital warts. The purpose is to diagnose and differentially diagnose latent infection of genital warts. After acetic acid is applied to the skin, it can cause a whitening reaction of the skin. If there is no infection with human papillomavirus, there will be no such reaction. However, this test has a high number of false positives, and the diagnosis is mainly based on human papillomavirus testing.

3. How to treat genital warts?

Genital warts are actually very easy to cure, but they seem to be very prone to recurrence because the incubation period is three months. Even if they are cured now, they may grow again in three months. Therefore, people often think that this disease cannot be cured, but in fact it is 100% curable.

The local rash of condyloma acuminatum can be removed by special methods, such as laser, photodynamic instrument, etc. It can also be removed by chemical corrosion method, using some ointments and medicines. Bamboo grass fat is commonly used. Apply bamboo grass fat to the rash, and remove the rash after corrosion. It may recur after removal. In order to prevent recurrence, apply some medicine after half a month before the rash appears. Repeat the medicine four or five times, and it can generally be cured.

Currently, there is no direct anti-human papillomavirus drug, and we can only use some interferons and drugs that increase immunity to fight the virus. The World Health Organization's guidelines point out that genital warts do not require systemic medication, but clinical studies have found that systemic medication can shorten the course of the disease.

4. Will genital warts turn into cancer?

Genital warts generally do not turn into skin cancer.

It is generally acknowledged that HPV infection of the cervix can cause cervical cancer over time. There is no clear relationship between genital warts and cancer. Genital warts have good treatments, and there are no reports of genital warts turning into cancer in clinical practice.

5. How to prevent genital warts?

Avoiding infection with the virus that causes genital warts is the fundamental way to prevent genital warts.

First of all, avoid high-risk sexual behaviors, wash thoroughly before sex, maintain a single partner, and take protective measures, such as wearing condoms.

Second, prevent indirect contact transmission, such as not sharing personal items, underwear, swimsuits, bathtubs, etc.; do not take a bath in a public bath, showers are encouraged; try to use squat toilets in public toilets.

Third, pay attention to personal hygiene, wash the vulva and change underwear every day.

In addition, there is now a vaccine to prevent genital warts, namely the HPV vaccine, which can also play a preventive role, mainly relying on personal daily attention.