For some reason, even in this enlightened day and age, the subject of genital warts is pretty much a taboo topic. Accordingly, this doesn’t really help when you suddenly find yourself with an outbreak. What should your next step be and just how can you treat genital warts?

Genital warts are the physical manifestation of the human papilloma virus (HPV). This virus is highly contagious and there are over 100 different types of which only two are responsible for genital warts. When any infected skin in the genital area makes contact with the genital regions of another there is a very high chance the virus will spread to the second person – in other words genital warts is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections. When someone contracts the virus, it does not necessarily mean you will get genital warts – some people never experience them at all – but if you do it is always best to get them checked out professionally.

Treatment is quite straight forward but can be a drawn out process that requires repeated and tedious actions. It must be noted that the HPV itself cannot be cured because as yet there is no known cure for viruses. You can only remove the warts and even this is no guarantee that they won’t come back after a time as the virus is still active inside the body. If the warts are not too large or widespread, then your doctor will probably recommend a medicated cream (such as Imiquimod or Podophyllotoxin) which will either destroy the abnormal wart cells or will boost the body’s immune system so it can deal with the warts. If, however, your warts have become very large and widespread then surgical action may be required.

Here, you have three options: cryosurgery where the warts are effectively frozen off – this can leave a certain amount of scarring as you have to keep going back to have the dead skin removed, electrocautery which burns the warts away and trichloracetic acid which attacks the proteins in the abnormal cells and is so strong that it can only be administered by a medical professional.

The last surgical option is far more expensive and requires a trained technician to perform the operation. This is laser surgery and is only recommended when all other treatment has failed or if you are expecting and need to get rid of stubborn warts but cannot use chemicals due to pregnancy.

Laser surgery will remove the warts immediately but it will take about two to four weeks to heal completely. There is also the slight possibility that another outbreak will occur immediately due to the fact it ‘impacts’ the immune system and triggers dormant viruses in the same area.

O.K. so now we know you can’t cure the virus, removal is the only way to get rid of the warts and this can be very messy, time consuming and sometimes even painful. What can be done to prevent the whole thing from happening in the first place? Common sense should lead you to the best preventative measure – don’t have intimate relations with someone who may have the virus already. If this is impossible -  for whatever reason -  then try and stick with one trusted partner whom you know is not infected and always practice safe sex, this way you’ll have no need to know about how to treat genital warts.

© Megan Jackson

Megan is a teacher who likes to help people with genital warts issues. She is also a platinum-level expert author on EzineArticles.com which is the world’s largest article directory. Megan recommends using natural and homeopathic approaches such as Wartrol. For a special discount, just click here.