5 Things You Need to Know About Female Genital Warts

1. Know the Facts

Make an appointment to see a gynecologist if you have been exposed to genital warts. Genital warts or venereal warts are a sexually transmitted disease caused by the human papillomavirus. Skin-to-skin contact transmits the disease from one individual to another. Transmission can occur during oral, anal or vaginal sex. A mother may transmit the disease to her child during childbirth where the infant develops a disease known as recurrent respiratory papillomatosis. Find out if you have genital warts and avoid infecting your sexual partners with the disease.

2. Look and See

Inspect your genitals, including your anal region and inner thighs for small, moist, soft bumps in or around the genital region. The bumps often develop a cauliflower appearance and can grow in size. Genital warts develop in the vaginal canal and on the cervix. Additional symptoms of female genital warts include irregular bleeding, increased moistness in the affected area, itching and abnormal vaginal discharge. Half of all women affected with HPV experience no symptoms at all.

3. Treatment Options

Seek treatment if you have or think you have genital warts. The disease cannot be cured but you can manage it. Doctors prescribe different topical creams to treat genital warts. Several of the creams are harmful to pregnant women, so tell your doctor if you are pregnant. Your doctor may remove small warts with one of several techniques such as freezing, burning or laser treatments. Surgical removal of large warts may be necessary. Warts may return after treatment or may disappear on their own. There is no way to predict how genital warts will react, so seek medical treatment to prevent the warts from growing or spreading.

4. Is it Cancer?

The HPV infection that causes genital warts does not cause cancer. A diagnosis of genital warts increases your chances of HPV cervical infection. Get a pap smear when you visit your doctor to test for cancerous forms of HPV.

5. Be One More

Ask your doctor about Gardasil, a vaccine that prevents more than 90 percent of genital warts that cause HPV infections. Gardasil also protects against several HPV related cancers. Protect yourself against the remaining 10 percent of HPV-caused genital warts by avoiding skin-to-skin or skin-to-mouth contact with an infected individual. Condoms provide some protection but often do not cover infected areas. Complete sexual abstinence or a monogamous sexual relationship between two uninfected partners is the only absolute way to prevent genital warts.