Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsSymptomsCausesPreventionHPV Testing
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
Symptoms
Causes
Prevention
HPV Testing
To set your mind at ease and allow you to enjoy a healthy sex life, it’s a good idea to learn about the impact of HPV and ways you can prevent infection.
This article discusses the symptoms and causes of genital warts, as well as HPV risk, prevention, and testing.
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Genital Warts Symptoms
Genital warts are abnormal growths that look like a bump or group of bumps in the genital area. They may appear light and pearly, skin-colored, dark purple, gray, or brown. These bumps can be small or large, raised or flat, or shaped like a cauliflower.
Sometimes genital warts can:
In females, warts can appear on the:
In males, warts can appear on the:
Warts can also occur in the mouth or throat (after having oral sex with an infected person) or around the anus (after anal sex with someone who has HPV).
Do Genital Warts Stay With You for Life?Whether or not you get genital warts (and for how long) depends largely on how well your immune system can fight HPV. Most people who get HPV don’t develop any symptoms. Further, many people are able to clear the infection within a couple of years.However, those with a weakened immune system are more likely to develop genital warts. If the body is unable to get rid of HPV, symptoms can recur and become chronic.
Do Genital Warts Stay With You for Life?
Whether or not you get genital warts (and for how long) depends largely on how well your immune system can fight HPV. Most people who get HPV don’t develop any symptoms. Further, many people are able to clear the infection within a couple of years.However, those with a weakened immune system are more likely to develop genital warts. If the body is unable to get rid of HPV, symptoms can recur and become chronic.
Whether or not you get genital warts (and for how long) depends largely on how well your immune system can fight HPV. Most people who get HPV don’t develop any symptoms. Further, many people are able to clear the infection within a couple of years.
However, those with a weakened immune system are more likely to develop genital warts. If the body is unable to get rid of HPV, symptoms can recur and become chronic.
Genital Warts Causes
HPV infection is spread through intimate skin-to-skin contact. While nearly everyone who is sexually active will get HPV at some point in their lives, most people will not develop genital warts. In about 90% of cases, HPV goes away on its own without causing any health issues. Further, those who are vaccinated against HPV are at lower risk of getting genital warts than those who are not.
It can take several weeks or even years after having sexual contact with someone with HPV for genital warts to show up. Because of that, it can sometimes be difficult to know when you got the HPV infection that caused them.
Factors that can increase your risk of developing genital warts include:
What Are the Chances of Giving My Partner Genital Warts?
It’s possible to pass genital warts to a partner through sexual contact. However, most people who get HPV (the virus that causes genital warts) don’t develop any symptoms.
That said, there are a number of factors that can affect each person’s risk of getting or spreading HPV. Keep in mind that:
HPV Risk
HPV is a widespread STI. Around 43 million Americans have HPV, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Most HPV infections do not cause cancer. However, if a high-risk HPV infection continues for many years, it can lead to cell changes that increase your risk of developing cancer.
How Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Is Treated
How Can I Prevent Getting Genital Warts?
While you can’t completely protect yourself against HPV, there are things you can do to reduce your risk. Chief among these isvaccination.
HPV Vaccine
The CDC recommends routineHPV vaccinationfor all sexes starting at 11 or 12 years old. In addition, it recommends vaccination for everyone through age 26 who is not adequately vaccinated.
If you are entering a new relationship with a partner who has HPV, vaccination remains the primary means of protection against possible transmission of the infection. However, it cannot treat an existing infection. Vaccination works best before exposure to HPV.
Safer Sex Practices
The other way to reduce your risk is to practice safer sex consistently. Safer sex practices include using barrier protection for sexual activity. Barriers include:
Can a Married Person Get HPV?People who are in a long-term mutually monogamous relationship are not likely to get a new HPV infection. However, having sex with a new partner is a risk factor for getting a new HPV infection. To reduce your chances of getting HPV, only have sex with someone who is only having sex with you.
Can a Married Person Get HPV?
People who are in a long-term mutually monogamous relationship are not likely to get a new HPV infection. However, having sex with a new partner is a risk factor for getting a new HPV infection. To reduce your chances of getting HPV, only have sex with someone who is only having sex with you.
It is important to remember that HPV spreads through skin-to-skin contact. Therefore, even if you use external or internal condoms, it is possible to acquire HPV if non-covered skin comes into contact with a lesion (including lesions you may not see).
If genital warts or lesions are present, it is best to avoid sex until they resolve. If you are not entirely sure if the condition has cleared, contact your healthcare provider and take extra precautions if you do have sex, such as the use of gloves or finger cots for masturbation, fingering, orfisting.
How to Talk to Your Partner About Having Genital WartsTelling someone you have genital warts can be difficult and embarrassing. However, remember that genital warts are common and they don’t cause serious health problems. If you want to talk to your partner about your condition, the following tips may help:Pick a time to talk when you won’t be distracted or interrupted.Start the conversation with a calm and positive attitude.Have a two-way conversation. Don’t be shy about asking if your partner has ever been tested or had an STI before.Let them know there are ways to prevent passing genital warts during sex.
How to Talk to Your Partner About Having Genital Warts
Telling someone you have genital warts can be difficult and embarrassing. However, remember that genital warts are common and they don’t cause serious health problems. If you want to talk to your partner about your condition, the following tips may help:Pick a time to talk when you won’t be distracted or interrupted.Start the conversation with a calm and positive attitude.Have a two-way conversation. Don’t be shy about asking if your partner has ever been tested or had an STI before.Let them know there are ways to prevent passing genital warts during sex.
Telling someone you have genital warts can be difficult and embarrassing. However, remember that genital warts are common and they don’t cause serious health problems. If you want to talk to your partner about your condition, the following tips may help:
Preventing the Spread of HPV
How to Get tested for HPV
There aren’t any specific tests available to check for low-risk HPV strains that cause genital warts. In many cases, genital warts can be diagnosed based on a clinical exam.
That said, HPV testing is used to detect high-risk strains that can cause cancer. However, getting a positive HPV diagnosis doesn’t necessarily suggest anything other than the need to monitor for cancer or precancer. Even then, the benefits of testing apply most to people with a cervix.
Cervical Pap Test
For those with a cervix, an HPV genetic test can detect the virus in a cervical smear. It can be performed alongside aPap test. It is recommended in people ages 30 and over.
However, it is generally not used for those in their 20s. That’s because most infections in this age group will go away independently.
The only HPV test the CDC recommends as routine is a cervical test, which may be done alongside a Pap smear.
Anal Pap Test
Unfortunately, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has only approved tests to detect HPV in people with a cervix.However, doctors sometimes perform ananal Pap testin people considered to be at higher risk of anal cancer. These include gay and bisexual men and men who have tested positive for HIV.
Oral Tests
If your HPV test is positive, you can’t necessarily determine how or when you contracted it. That’s because symptoms (if they occur at all) can appear months or even years after infection. In fact, according to the CDC, it is presumed that nearly every sexually active unvaccinated person will acquire HPV at some point during their life. So, given the high infection rate, there is often little way of knowing when the exposure occurred.
Summary
HPV is a sexually transmitted virus that infects nearly every unvaccinated sexually active person at some point in their lives. HPV infection can cause genital warts in some people.
How to Cope If You Have HPV
15 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Genital HPV infection - basic fact sheet.American Academy of Dermatology.Genital warts: Signs and symptoms.American Academy of Dermatology.Genital warts: who gets and causes.Planned Parenthood.What are the symptoms of genital warts?National Cancer Institute.HPV and cancer.Planned Parenthood.How can I prevent getting or spreading genital warts?American Academy of Dermatology.Genital warts: tips for managing.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Genital HPV infection fact sheet.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Basic information about HPV and cancer.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.HPV vaccination recommendations.Planned Parenthood.How can I make sure I don’t get or spread HPV?National Cancer Institute.HPV and Pap Testing.American Cancer Society.HPV and HPV testing.American Cancer Society.Cancer facts for gay and bisexual men.The Oral Cancer Foundation.HPV oral cancer facts.Additional ReadingThomas T.Cancer prevention: HPV vaccination.Semin Oncol Nurs.2016;32(3):273-80. doi:10.1016/j.soncn.2016.05.007
15 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Genital HPV infection - basic fact sheet.American Academy of Dermatology.Genital warts: Signs and symptoms.American Academy of Dermatology.Genital warts: who gets and causes.Planned Parenthood.What are the symptoms of genital warts?National Cancer Institute.HPV and cancer.Planned Parenthood.How can I prevent getting or spreading genital warts?American Academy of Dermatology.Genital warts: tips for managing.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Genital HPV infection fact sheet.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Basic information about HPV and cancer.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.HPV vaccination recommendations.Planned Parenthood.How can I make sure I don’t get or spread HPV?National Cancer Institute.HPV and Pap Testing.American Cancer Society.HPV and HPV testing.American Cancer Society.Cancer facts for gay and bisexual men.The Oral Cancer Foundation.HPV oral cancer facts.Additional ReadingThomas T.Cancer prevention: HPV vaccination.Semin Oncol Nurs.2016;32(3):273-80. doi:10.1016/j.soncn.2016.05.007
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Genital HPV infection - basic fact sheet.American Academy of Dermatology.Genital warts: Signs and symptoms.American Academy of Dermatology.Genital warts: who gets and causes.Planned Parenthood.What are the symptoms of genital warts?National Cancer Institute.HPV and cancer.Planned Parenthood.How can I prevent getting or spreading genital warts?American Academy of Dermatology.Genital warts: tips for managing.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Genital HPV infection fact sheet.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Basic information about HPV and cancer.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.HPV vaccination recommendations.Planned Parenthood.How can I make sure I don’t get or spread HPV?National Cancer Institute.HPV and Pap Testing.American Cancer Society.HPV and HPV testing.American Cancer Society.Cancer facts for gay and bisexual men.The Oral Cancer Foundation.HPV oral cancer facts.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Genital HPV infection - basic fact sheet.
American Academy of Dermatology.Genital warts: Signs and symptoms.
American Academy of Dermatology.Genital warts: who gets and causes.
Planned Parenthood.What are the symptoms of genital warts?
National Cancer Institute.HPV and cancer.
Planned Parenthood.How can I prevent getting or spreading genital warts?
American Academy of Dermatology.Genital warts: tips for managing.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Genital HPV infection fact sheet.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Basic information about HPV and cancer.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.HPV vaccination recommendations.
Planned Parenthood.How can I make sure I don’t get or spread HPV?
National Cancer Institute.HPV and Pap Testing.
American Cancer Society.HPV and HPV testing.
American Cancer Society.Cancer facts for gay and bisexual men.
The Oral Cancer Foundation.HPV oral cancer facts.
Thomas T.Cancer prevention: HPV vaccination.Semin Oncol Nurs.2016;32(3):273-80. doi:10.1016/j.soncn.2016.05.007
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