When do genital warts appear after infection

You should apply the ointment directly to the warts at least three days a week for about four months. Although imiquimod may not be effective for everyone, one study did show that warts cleared in 37 to 50 percent of people using the cream.

The medicine can also boost your immune system to fight HPV. You should apply the ointment three times per day for up to four months. Sinecatechins may be the most effective topical for getting rid of warts. According to one study , the ointment cleared up warts in 56 to 57 percent of participants. With cryotherapy , your doctor will remove the warts by freezing them with liquid nitrogen. A blister will form around each wart, which will shed once it heals.

Cryotherapy is effective in clearing outbreaks temporarily, but multiple treatments may be necessary to achieve long-term results. You can go right back to your normal activities after the procedure, but expect a lot of watery discharge for up to three weeks as the area heals. Electrodessication is a treatment that needs to be performed by a specialist.

Your surgeon will use an electrical current to burn and destroy external genital warts, and then scrape away the dried tissue. Research has found the surgery to be highly effective. One study found that 94 percent of people who had six weekly sessions of electrodessication were clear of genital warts.

Healing time takes four to six weeks. Laser surgery is also a specialist procedure. Your surgeon uses a laser light to burn away wart tissue. You may require local or general anesthesia depending on the size and number of warts. Recovery should take a few weeks. Most HPV infections that cause genital warts will go away on their own, taking anywhere from a few months to two years. But even if your genital warts disappear without treatment, you may still have the virus.

When left untreated, genital warts can grow very large and in big clusters. They are also more likely to return. You should wait to have sex at least two weeks after your warts have cleared.

HPV and genital warts can be spread through sex or skin-to-skin genital contact with someone who has the virus. Most people infected with HPV don't have symptoms. But if they do, the symptoms may be so mild that they may not know they are infected. The symptoms may include pain, itching, and bleeding, or you may develop visible genital warts. If you have symptoms, they will probably occur 2 to 3 months after infection. But you can have symptoms from 3 weeks to many years after infection.

Visible genital warts appear only during active infection. But it is possible to spread the virus even if you can't see the warts.

A doctor can often tell if you have genital warts by looking closely at your genital and anal areas. He or she may ask you questions about your symptoms and your risk factors.

Risk factors are things that make you more likely to get an infection. For women, if you have an abnormal Pap test, your doctor can do an HPV test that looks for high-risk types of the virus. Talk to your doctor about whether you should treat visible genital warts. They usually go away with no treatment, but they may also spread.

Most people decide to treat them because of the symptoms or because of how the warts look. But if you don't have symptoms and are not worried about how the warts look, you can wait and see if the warts go away. If you do decide to treat genital warts, talk to your doctor about the best treatment for you. There are prescription medicines that you or your doctor can put on the warts. Or your doctor can remove them with lasers, surgery, or by freezing them off. Even if you treat visible warts or your warts go away without treatment, the HPV infection can stay in your body's cells.

It is possible to spread genital warts to your partner even if you have no signs of them. The best way to keep from getting genital warts—or any other STI—is to not have sex or any skin-to-skin genital contact. If you do have sex, practice safer sex.

If you are age 26 or younger, you can get the HPV shot. The HPV vaccine can protect against genital warts. HPV infection is caused by a virus. More than types of HPV have been found. Some types cause genital warts and some can lead to cervical cancer.

Types 6 and 11 cause most genital warts. Other types such as 16 and 18 are high-risk and can cause abnormal cell changes on the cervix. Infection with the human papillomavirus HPV usually does not cause any symptoms and does not always produce visible genital warts.

Some types of HPV cause cell changes to the cervix that can cause an abnormal Pap test. When symptoms do develop, they usually occur 2 to 3 months after infection. But symptoms have been known to occur from 3 weeks to many years after infection. In women, most precancerous or cancerous cell changes associated with HPV infection occur on the cervix.

This is because the cells of the cervix naturally undergo changes in an area called the transformation zone. This process can cause cervical cells to become abnormal when they are infected with HPV. Infection with high-risk types of HPV increase the chance that a woman with HPV will develop abnormal cervical cell changes. It is important to have regular exams by your doctor. If your doctor finds abnormal cells on a Pap test, the cells can be treated to help prevent them from changing to cancer.

Among people who receive anal sex, HPV infection of the anal canal is associated with an increased risk of anal cancer. This risk may be especially high in men who also have HIV infection. It is not clear whether men who are infected with HPV on the penis are more likely to have precancerous or cancerous changes on the penis than men who are not infected. Because HPV does cause cell changes, more research is being done to find out whether HPV increases the risk of penile cancer.

In the United States, cancer of the penis is extremely rare. The presence of HPV and abnormal cell changes does not affect the outcome of the pregnancy. A pregnant woman who is infected with the type of HPV that causes genital warts may have more complicated warts than a woman who is not pregnant. Genital warts may increase in size, bleed, or become infected with bacteria. Your doctor may recommend treatment. Warts may be passed on to the newborn, but this is rare. Things that increase a person's risk for getting a sexually transmitted infection, such as HPV and genital warts, include:.

If you have a high-risk type of HPV and are using birth control pills for more than 5 years, research suggests that this can increase your risk of getting cervical cancer. For more information, see the topic Cervical Cancer. A child can get genital warts in several ways. Any child who has genital warts needs to be evaluated by a doctor to find out the cause and to assess for possible sexual abuse.

In rare cases, infants may develop warts in the larynx laryngeal papillomas , which is in the throat, from exposure to HPV during birth. A doctor should evaluate any warts or other symptoms that suggest infection with the human papillomavirus HPV or another sexually transmitted infection STI. Avoid sexual contact until you have been examined. If you have an STI, avoid sexual contact to prevent spreading the virus. Sometimes, warts may go away on their own. If you have genital warts, your doctor may observe your condition without using medical treatment.

This is called watchful waiting. This period may vary from a few days to weeks or possibly months. In general, your family doctor or any of the following health professionals can determine whether you have genital warts:. A doctor usually can diagnose visible genital warts using your medical history and a physical exam. But not all HPV infections cause visible warts. If you don't have any visible genital warts or other symptoms, it may be hard for your doctor to diagnose HPV infection.

Your doctor may ask you the following questions:. After your doctor takes your medical history, you will have a gynecological exam, which usually includes a Pap test. A Pap test screens for abnormal cells on the cervix. Results of the Pap test may indicate an HPV infection even though you have no visible warts.

Women over age 30 may get a screening test for HPV at the same time as a Pap test. Women under 30 usually get the HPV test only if they have an abnormal Pap test. If your doctor finds areas of abnormal tissue on the cervix which may be related to HPV infection , he or she may recommend treatment. Some experts believe that people who receive anal sex should have a screening for anal cancer, especially if they also have HIV infection.

Ask your doctor whether and how often you should be tested. When your doctor finds abnormal tissue but cannot make a definite diagnosis, you may have a biopsy for lab tissue studies. Testing for the type of HPV that is causing warts is not useful for diagnosis.

This test is not routinely done for diagnosis or treatment of genital warts. There is no cure for HPV infection, but warts and cell changes can be treated. HPV infection that causes an abnormal Pap test will be treated differently than the HPV types that cause genital warts. Genital warts caused by the most common types of human papillomavirus HPV may go away on their own without treatment. For this and other reasons, experts sometimes have different approaches to treating genital warts.

Doctors often recommend medicine applied to warts topical drug treatment as the first choice of treatment. Genital warts can be raised or flat, small or large. Sometimes they're grouped together in a cauliflower-like shape. Some warts can be so small and flat that they're not noticed right away. Most of the time, genital warts are painless. Some people, though, may have itching, bleeding, burning, or pain. The HPV that causes genital warts usually spreads through vaginal, oral, or anal sex or close sexual contact with the genital area.

Even if there are no warts, HPV might still be active in the genital area and can spread to others. Health care providers usually can diagnose genital warts by looking at them.

Sometimes, doctors take a small sample of the wart to send to a lab for testing. This usually isn't painful. Sometimes, warts come back after treatment. This is because the treatments can't get rid of all of the HPV in the body. How long genital warts last can vary from person to person. Sometimes, the immune system clears the warts within a few months.

But even if the warts go away, the HPV might still be active in the body. Many individuals worry about STDs , such as chlamydia or herpes. Genital warts appear as growths or bumps that are flesh-colored or whitish. They may be small or large, raised or flat, and appear singly or in groups. While genital warts generally do not cause such symptoms as itching or pain, many people find them embarrassing, and they can be spread from person to person. An additional 14 million people become newly infected with HPV each year.

But not all strains of HPV cause genital warts. Some cause common skin warts, and some can cause cellular changes that can lead to cancer of the cervix , vagina , vulva, anus, penis, and oropharynx — the area at the back of the throat that includes the base of the tongue and tonsils. For many people, an HPV infection never causes any symptoms or harm, because the body is able to clear the virus naturally.

Nelson says. Discovering you have a sexually transmitted infection is never a pleasant surprise, but knowing more about it and the treatments available can help to set your mind at ease. Genital warts are caused by certain types of sexually transmitted HPV. There are more than 40 HPV types that can affect the genital area of women and men. But more than 90 percent of genital warts are caused by just two types: HPV 6 and One percent of all sexually active women and men get genital warts every year.

We see them in everyone — women who are pregnant, young adults exploring their sexuality, older women and men. Typically, you get warts within one to four months of being infected with HPV. But the virus can be kept in check by the immune system for longer than that. Does everyone exposed to HPV 6 and 11 get warts?