HPV Treatment Information

HPV is the human papillomavirus. It is a sexually transmitted virus for which there is no cure. An outbreak of HPV results in the appearance of warts that appear on the vagina, penis or anus area. Both men and women can get HPV. Most people are embarrassed when they are first diagnosed with HPV. This is because of the shame of catching a sexually transmitted disease as well as the embarrassment of having very unsightly warts covering their genital area. Even though there is no cure for HPV that are many effective HPV treatments.

There are varying degrees of HPV infection. The least challenging infection results in the appearance of warts on the genital area. Most HPV treatments can remove the warts. The effectiveness of the treatment can last anyway from six months to several years before another recurrent outbreak of the disease. The more serious forms of HPV infection can result in cervical cancer in women and penile or anal cancer in men. There are almost a 100 different levels of HPV infection. Women are generally more likely to be infected with HPV than are men.

HPV is generally diagnosed after a medical examination by a doctor. The doctor can evaluate the level of infection and how wide spread it is. This information will be used to determine the best HPV treatment. HPV treatment can be either performed at the doctor’s office or at home. HPV treatment performed at the doctor’s office generally will result in the immediate killing or removal of the genital warts. At home treatment requires repeated application of a cream to the infected area to fully remove the warts.

HPV treatment done at a doctor’s office will consist of either cryotherapy, laser surgery or loop electrosurgical excision procedure (LEEP). Cryotherapy involves freezing the genital warts using liquid nitrogen. The extreme temperature of the liquid nitrogen will kill the genital wart. The liquid nitrogen is applied using a probe that resembles an oversized Q-Tip. A patient that undergoes Cryotherapy is generally well enough to be able to drive home after the treatment. There is no lingering recover period required for this method of treatment.

A more invasive HPV treatment uses lasers to kill the warts. The use of lasers will generally require the application of local anesthesia. For this reason patients may require a day or two to recover after the treatment. If there are a very large number of warts, most doctors will not use this treatment method because it would be too time consuming to treat each and every individual wart.

Another alternative is surgery. With surgery the doctor will cut away the genital warts. Surgery will require the use of anesthesia. For a small number of warts the doctor will use local anesthesia. For a large number of warts the doctor may require the use of general anesthesia. Anytime a patient undergoes surgery, you can expect them to have to have a period of recovery after the surgery.

Almost all HPV treatment performed in a doctor’s office is followed up with at home treatment to address recurrent outbreaks.

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