Understanding the Treatment Process for Genital Warts
We all remember genital warts from sex-education during our time in school, at least for those of us in Singapore. While the overarching message of safe sex was constantly repeated, what grabbed our attention the most was toe-curling images of warts in and around genital areas. Genital warts are also perhaps the most misunderstood facet of Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs). This article will attempt to provide you with a clearer picture of genital warts for you to better understand the treatment process.
Before fully diving into genital warts, we will begin by taking a short but informative detour to understand the causes of genital warts.
While genital warts may seem like the STD we want to avoid the most, they are technically not considered as a virus or even an infection. Instead, they are the most common symptom of an infection by human papillomavirus (HPV), which is the virus behind the growth of gential warts. Research has indicated that HPV is the most common STD throughout the world. Some who contract HPV may naturally clear the virus to undetectable levels. However, for some unlucky individuals, thee infection persists and warts around genital areas develop.
There has yet to a specific cure developed for HPVs. When an individual does head down to a STD clinic in Singapore for treatment of genital warts, the treatment does not adress the HPV infection. Instead, treatment only looks to removing the warts. What does this mean for you? Simply put, someone may have had their warts removed and cured but the HPV infection could still be present and active within them. Practising unsafe sex with these individuals could cause you to contract the virus.
With that out of the way, what exactly are genital warts? Genital warts come in a large variety of forms. Singular warts are small, benign growths on our skin. They may stay as singular warts or may develop into clusters of warts in the genital area. Warts may eventually be keratinised, become hard, or remain soft. It is not impossible for warts to start bleeding.
More often than not, genital warts are visually disgnosed by medical practitioneers. In some cases, a biopsy maybe required to comprehensively diagnose a patient with a HPV infection, causing the warts.
To remove genital warts, are two families of treatment options available. The first of which is physical ablation.
This treatment family is generally reserved for patients with lesser warts. Generally, non invasive procedures, such as cutting out the wart under local anesthesia, are used. Liquid nitrogen cyrosurgery is also a common treatment. The wart is subjected to extreme cold through the application of liquid nitrogen and is destroyed. Genital warts can also be removed through electrocautery, which destroys the wart by exposing it to high temperatures.
For more severe cases of genital warts, formal and invasive surgery will be required. Intra-anal or vaginal warts will need surgical procedures, with the patient under general anesthesia, to be removed.
The second category of treatments focus on topical agents. A clinic may prescribe topical agents to patients with genital warts. Topical agents are medications, generally creams, that are specifically applied to the warts. These look to gradually remove gential warts from a patient.
Again, genital warts are symptoms of a HPV infection. Removing symptoms does not entail removal of the HPV infection itself. Individuals who have been cured of genital warts should still visit STD clinics regularly to be updated on the status of their infections.
