The best way to prevent vaginal warts is to use condoms. If your partner discovers a wart, insist that he or she see a doctor, and if the warts prove to be sexually transmitted, get tested yourself -- even if you have no symptoms.
Your doctor may want to take a biopsy (a small sample of tissue) to determine for sure whether the lesion is a genital wart. Tests to determine the subtype of the HPV are sometimes recommended. If you are a woman and are diagnosed with warts, make sure to be tested for cervical irregularities during your regular gynecological exams. An annual Pap test is very important. You may also need an exam with a colposcope, a device used to microscopically inspect the vaginal walls and cervix for abnormal cells; and this can help diagnose condyloma.
What Are the Treatments?
There is no cure and no vaccine for genital warts. Treatment focuses on removing visible warts. However, even after visible warts are removed, the virus remains in your body and may cause outbreaks again in the future. Also, treatments may or may not decrease your risk of passing genital warts to someone else.
Because treatment doesn't actually change the course of the infection, it's not necessarily required. To decide whether you want to have warts removed, talk with your doctor about the risks and benefits in your individual situation.
Avoiding oral, vaginal, and anal sexual contact is necessary during treatment and for several weeks after treatment ends.
Some medication treatment may be more expensive than others.
Warts on the vulva or penis that do not go away on their own or after treatment often are biopsied to rule out precancerous or cancerous conditions of the genital skin.
Genital warts caused by the most common types of human papillomavirus (HPV) may go away on their own without medical treatment. For this and other reasons, experts disagree on the medical treatment for genital warts.
* Genital warts may disappear without treatment. This is the natural course of most genital warts.
* Destroying large areas of warts is difficult.
* Treatment for genital warts does not eliminate the HPV infection. A person treated for genital warts may still be able to transmit the infection. For sexually active people, condoms may help reduce transmission of HPV infection, its spread, and possible reinfection, although studies have not shown how much protection condoms provide.
* For women, an HPV infection that causes an abnormal Pap test will be treated differently than HPV causing visible genital warts.
* Some health professionals believe that treatment for genital warts will help prevent the spread of HPV infections and keep genital warts from returning.
Removing genital warts does not cure an HPV infection. Although warts may go away with topical treatment, they often return because the HPV virus is still present in the body's cells.
Even if genital warts have been removed or destroyed:
* You may still be capable of infecting sex partners with HPV.
* You should continue to use condoms during sexual intercourse if you have multiple sex partners.
* You may choose to discontinue condom use if you are in a long-term, single-partner (monogamous) relationship.
