Genital Warts (Human Papillomavirus)-Treatment Overview
Genital Warts (Human Papillomavirus)-Treatment Overview
Genital Warts (Human Papillomavirus) Guide
Surgery to remove genital warts may be done when:
Without treatment, external genital warts may remain unchanged, increase in size or number, or go away. Studies show that no one treatment is completely successful. All treatments have advantages and disadvantages. The benefits and effectiveness of each treatment need to be compared with the side effects and cost.
A biopsy of warts that do not go away on their own or after treatment is often done to rule out precancerous or cancerous conditions.
Several choices of treatment for pregnant women have been found to be effective and safe, including trichloroacetic acid (TCA), cryotherapy, and surgery.
Genital Warts (Human Papillomavirus) - Treatment Overview
Genital Warts (Human Papillomavirus) Guide
- Topic Overview
- Health Tools
- Cause
- Symptoms
- What Happens
- What Increases Your Risk
- When To Call a Doctor
- Exams and Tests
- Treatment Overview
- Prevention
- Home Treatment
- Medications
- Surgery
- Other Places To Get Help
- Related Information
- References
- Credits
Surgery and other treatment
Surgery to remove genital warts may be done when:
- Medicine treatment has failed and the removal of warts is considered necessary.
- Warts are widespread.
What to think about
Without treatment, external genital warts may remain unchanged, increase in size or number, or go away. Studies show that no one treatment is completely successful. All treatments have advantages and disadvantages. The benefits and effectiveness of each treatment need to be compared with the side effects and cost.
- Treatment of warts usually requires a series of applications rather than a single treatment.
- Warts in moist areas usually respond better to treatments applied to the area, such as creams or acids.
- Warts on dry skin may respond best to freezing (cryotherapy) or surgical removal.
- Cryotherapy may be done when genital warts are visible and bothersome and are growing in a small area. Repeat treatments may be needed to remove all wart tissue.
- The success of surgery is related to the number of warts. The success rate is higher and additional treatments are less likely to be needed when surgery is done on fewer and smaller warts. But surgery is less likely to be needed for a few small areas of warts. Surgery may require anesthesia.
- Small areas of warts can be quickly treated with removal methods, such as cryotherapy or surgical excision.
- Self-applied medicines may be used for larger areas of warts that need longer or repeated treatments.
A biopsy of warts that do not go away on their own or after treatment is often done to rule out precancerous or cancerous conditions.
Several choices of treatment for pregnant women have been found to be effective and safe, including trichloroacetic acid (TCA), cryotherapy, and surgery.
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