Genital Wart Removal

Genital wart can be an embarrassing experience and one that may be contracted due to sheer ignorance. Genital wart removal is an option that can be explored if you suspect to have been infected by the human papilloma virus or HPV. Children and adults usually catch the virus through skin-to-skin contact or sexual contact with someone who carries this virus. Warts can take anywhere from several weeks to several months to show up, or can even lie dormant for years at a time!

Genital Wart Removal Treatment

There are several approaches to genital wart removal and these include surgical excision, immunologic therapy for genital wart removal and chemical or physical obliteration of the genital wart. The treatment your doctor may use for genital wart removal is dependent on several considerations that include number or warts, symptoms you may experience and many others.

Choices in Genital Wart Removal Treatment

The choices in genital wart removal treatment range from highly invasive to surface treatments using genital wart removal creams, or lotions, or gels. If you choose to get genital wart removal done by surgery then it is possible that the doctor give you local anesthesia to numb the pain. Many individuals experience a recurrence of genital warts with 6 months from their first genital wart removal treatment. In almost 70% cases, the warts resurface again after treatment.

Medical Treatments for Genital Wart Removal

Genital wart removal treatments that use chemicals usually work by interfering with the cell development of the HPV, which is the primary cause of warts. These chemicals stop the growth of cells in the virus and force the genital warts to die. There are several chemical genital wart removal treatments available and have shown various degrees of success in treating and removing these health threats.

Genital Wart Removal Creams/Lotions

Below are the two most popular and effective genital wart removal creams that need to be applied topically for a specific period of time.

Podofilox (Podophyllotoxin): Apply this cream in the privacy of your room. Applied every alternate day for 3 weeks, or 2 times daily for 3 days followed by 4 days of break and for 3-4 weeks in continuation, Podofilox has some mild side effects such as vaginal burning, redness or irritation.

Aldara (Imiquimod): A 5% Aldara genital wart removal cream is used to modulate the immune system to treat warts. Success rate stands at almost 85% with recurrence rate limited to 19% or less. However, Aldara can’t be used for internal genital wart removal. The cream requires anywhere from 8-16 weeks to clear the warts. Side effects are mild and mainly limited to soreness and irritation.

Chemical/Surgical Treatments for Genital Wart Removal

Podophyllin: Kills HPV cells and stops the growth of genital warts. Applied topically by the doctor, a 10-25% Podophyllin solution is found to be highly effective in destruction of genital warts. The doctor applies the solution on the genital wart once every week for 4 weeks and the area is washed off within 12 hours of application.

Other chemical genital wart removal treatments include use of Trichloroacetic acid, 5-fluorouracil epinephrine gel, Interferon alfa etc. Cryotherapy: Surgical procedure for genital wart removal includes freezing the wart in liquid nitrogen in an attempt to destroy them.