#1 ·
HPV usually spreads through sex, but skin-to-skin contact with infected areas works too. It can even hit the respiratory tract or eyes, though most cases stick to the genital area.
Even if guys use condoms, they aren't bulletproof against HPV... warts usually pop up around the base of the penis.
Since it's not just about penetration, you see it in girls who haven't had sex yet. Plus, it shows up in the mouth, so oral-genital contact is definitely a thing.
How does HPV show up? [edit]
Types 16, 18, 31, and 33 are the bad ones—they cause cervical cancer. Along with those, you get these clusters of warts, mostly inside the vagina or around the anus.
For men, warts usually show up on the shaft, under the foreskin, or near the anus. They can also hit the rectum or mouth.
If a pregnant woman has warts, there’s a risk she'll pass the infection to the baby during birth.
Diagnosis
To confirm HPV, you need a urologist or gynecologist to run some molecular tests if needed. Guys get a urethral swab, while women get a Pap smear and maybe a colposcopy to check the cervix for changes.
Pap results are now categorized using CIN (cervical intraepithelial neoplasia), which has three stages depending on how bad things look in the cervix.
CIN1 is mild dysplasia
CIN2 is moderate dysplasia
CIN3 is severe dysplasia (cancer)
How do you treat HPV? [edit]
If a Pap smear catches malignant changes early, treatment is way easier and less painful... much better than waiting until it turns into full-blown cancer.
Warts can be handled a few ways:
liquid chemicals like Imiquimod or Podophyllin
freezing them off via cryotherapy
burning them off with electrocoagulation
injecting interferon to boost immunity
laser treatment
surgical removal
But honestly, you can't fully "cure" an HPV infection... it just stays.
The Vaccine
Back in June 2006, Merck released Gardasil, which got the green light in the USA. A study on women averaging 23 years old showed it protects against types 16 and 18, which cause about 70% of cervical cancers. It was basically 100% effective against those dangerous strains. It also covers types 6 and 11, which cause 90% of genital warts. Even the CDC recommends it for women who already have an HPV diagnosis.
Prevention
Most people don't even know they have it since it rarely shows symptoms, so they spread it without realizing. Using condoms helps, especially if you're seeing different partners frequently.
HPV is almost an invisible byproduct of being sexually active. That's why doctors in the US tell women to get regular Pap smears—to catch HPV or other STIs before they become a problem.
Some info here might be unverified or unreliable.
Check for inaccuracies and update with sources if needed.
Just a heads up, apparently even using condoms doesn't totally stop the nastiest HPV strains that cause cervical cancer...
So if you find out you've got one of those types, you really should tell your partners so we don't end up with a massive outbreak...
Even if guys use condoms, they aren't bulletproof against HPV... warts usually pop up around the base of the penis.
Since it's not just about penetration, you see it in girls who haven't had sex yet. Plus, it shows up in the mouth, so oral-genital contact is definitely a thing.
How does HPV show up? [edit]
Types 16, 18, 31, and 33 are the bad ones—they cause cervical cancer. Along with those, you get these clusters of warts, mostly inside the vagina or around the anus.
For men, warts usually show up on the shaft, under the foreskin, or near the anus. They can also hit the rectum or mouth.
If a pregnant woman has warts, there’s a risk she'll pass the infection to the baby during birth.
Diagnosis
To confirm HPV, you need a urologist or gynecologist to run some molecular tests if needed. Guys get a urethral swab, while women get a Pap smear and maybe a colposcopy to check the cervix for changes.
Pap results are now categorized using CIN (cervical intraepithelial neoplasia), which has three stages depending on how bad things look in the cervix.
CIN1 is mild dysplasia
CIN2 is moderate dysplasia
CIN3 is severe dysplasia (cancer)
How do you treat HPV? [edit]
If a Pap smear catches malignant changes early, treatment is way easier and less painful... much better than waiting until it turns into full-blown cancer.
Warts can be handled a few ways:
liquid chemicals like Imiquimod or Podophyllin
freezing them off via cryotherapy
burning them off with electrocoagulation
injecting interferon to boost immunity
laser treatment
surgical removal
But honestly, you can't fully "cure" an HPV infection... it just stays.
The Vaccine
Back in June 2006, Merck released Gardasil, which got the green light in the USA. A study on women averaging 23 years old showed it protects against types 16 and 18, which cause about 70% of cervical cancers. It was basically 100% effective against those dangerous strains. It also covers types 6 and 11, which cause 90% of genital warts. Even the CDC recommends it for women who already have an HPV diagnosis.
Prevention
Most people don't even know they have it since it rarely shows symptoms, so they spread it without realizing. Using condoms helps, especially if you're seeing different partners frequently.
HPV is almost an invisible byproduct of being sexually active. That's why doctors in the US tell women to get regular Pap smears—to catch HPV or other STIs before they become a problem.
Some info here might be unverified or unreliable.
Check for inaccuracies and update with sources if needed.
Just a heads up, apparently even using condoms doesn't totally stop the nastiest HPV strains that cause cervical cancer...
So if you find out you've got one of those types, you really should tell your partners so we don't end up with a massive outbreak...