Genital warts

Genital warts are a common sexually transmitted infection (STI). A virus called Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) causes them.

Genital warts can take a few weeks or months to appear after you become infected. They're usually small, rough lumps on the skin.

You can get them in these places:

• around the vagina and on the penis
• around the anus
• on the skin between the genitals and the anus

Genital warts may:

• appear on their own or in a group (a group of warts can look like a cauliflower)
• feel soft or firm
• be white, red, skin-coloured, or darker than the surrounding skin

Most of the time they don't cause symptoms, but they can sometimes be painful, itchy or bleed.

Talk to a doctor or a sexual health clinic if you have:

• 1 or more painless lumps or growths around your vagina, penis or anus
• itching or bleeding from your genitals or anus
• a sexual partner or partners who have genital warts

Testing for genital warts means having the genital area examined.

If you think you might have genital warts, you can get checked by:

• contacting a doctor for an appointment
• booking an appointment at your local sexual health clinic

Warts must be diagnosed by a doctor or nurse.

You don't always need treatment for genital warts. They sometimes disappear on their own within 6 months.

If treatment is recommended, your doctor will prescribe it. Your doctor or nurse may advise you to avoid sex while you're having treatment for genital warts.

The type of treatment you're offered depends on what your warts are like, and your doctor or nurse will talk this through with you.

Treatment options include:

• cream or liquid
• freezing
• surgery

You can usually put this on the genital warts yourself, a few times a week, for several weeks.

A doctor or nurse treats genital warts by freezing them with liquid nitrogen. This is usually done every week for 4 weeks.

A doctor or nurse can cut or burn genital warts off. This is usually only recommended if the warts are not responding to cream or freezing, or if they are too large for those treatments. The side effects of surgery include:

• bleeding
• wound infection
• scarring

Genital warts are not usually harmful during pregnancy.

During pregnancy, genital warts may:

• multiply and get bigger (they may be removed if they're very big)
• become more easily irritated
• be passed on to the baby during childbirth, but this is very rare (the HPV virus can cause infection in the baby's throat or genitals)

Most creams, liquids and ointments used to treat them aren't recommended during pregnancy. Freezing can be used, but it's often not very successful.

Genital warts usually disappear on their own within 6 weeks after childbirth.

Genital warts spread through skin to skin contact. There are other ways you can get them too:

• unprotected vaginal, anal or oral sex (sex without a condom)
• sharing sex toys with an infected person

The best way to lower your risk of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including genital warts, is to practise safer sex. That means using a condom for vaginal, anal and oral sex, and also when you share sex toys.

You can still get warts even if you use a condom, because a condom doesn't cover the whole genital area.

The HPV vaccine lowers your risk of catching the HPV virus, which is what causes warts. It won't treat warts once you already have them, though.

Genital warts are not cancer, and they don't cause cancer. They're caused by a different strain of HPV.

The HPV vaccination is offered to every person aged 11 to 13. The vaccine that protects against cervical cancer also protects against genital warts.

It's also offered to men who have sex with men (MSM) and to trans people aged up to 45 years.

If you didn't have the vaccine at school and you don't fit the groups above, you can pay for it privately.

If you've been diagnosed with genital warts, you should be tested for all STIs, including:

• chlamydia
• gonorrhoea
• syphilis
• HIV

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