Genital warts are created by the human papilloma virus (HPV), a most contagious sexually transmitted infection. In fact over 65% of people who come into contact with it will definitely contract this virus. You will not know immediately as it can take up to three months to show any visible sign (and, indeed, sometimes there will never be any physical sign) but then you may find outbreaks of genital warts appearing. You first thought then will be in getting some genital wart treatment.

It’s a fact that people do not like to talk about genital warts and as a result, those who do contract them don’t immediately know much about them. In actual fact, it’s nothing complicated; it’s just not talked about because there is still some sort of taboo over sexually transmitted diseases.

There are many strains of HPV – around 100 – but only two, strains six and eleven cause genital warts. At the moment it is not possible to cure the body of HPV because a virus will not respond to antibiotics but it is possible to remove the genital warts to stop them growing larger and causing any further medical problems.

It is important to get professional advice if you contract HPV and the resulting warts but once you have the diagnosis then there are quite a few options of treatment open to you.

If the warts are not too big and still manageable then your G.P. will probably prescribe a medicinal cream to either destroy the wart cells or to give your immune system a boost which will then deal with the problem itself but if the warts have grown rather large or have proved to be impervious to these creams, the doctor will probably then advise surgical methods. The most common and least expensive surgeries include cryosurgery where nitrous oxide is used to freeze the warts off, electrocauterisation where the abnormal cells are burnt off and trichloracetic acid which is an especially strong chemical which again destroys the wart – this, however, has to be applied by a professional medic who can ensure the acid only touches the wart and not the surrounding tissue otherwise the surrounding healthy skin will be killed as well.

In the unlikely event that all these options do not work or if perhaps you are pregnant and the warts have become unmanageable then sometimes a doctor will recommend laser surgery but this can be extremely expensive and there are pros and cons to this treatment as well. The area will not completely heal for at least two to four weeks and sometimes the laser will have such an impact t the immune system that other outbreaks of warts can be triggered immediately so you are suddenly back at square one, so to speak. On the plus side, depending on the strength of your warts, the procedure will be over in about half an hour and there are no invasive chemicals that could hurt you or, if pregnant, your growing baby.

Of course, once diagnosed, some people turn to natural home remedies which do actually work. Apple cider vinegar is the most popular, closely followed by tee tree oil, vitamin E and garlic. Several applications of these over a course of weeks will make the warts die and finally drop off although, of course, there can be no guarantee they won’t come back again.