Female Genital Warts (Vaginal Warts)

Female genital warts (warts found on the vaginal areas of ladies) may be described as small lesions that look like cauliflower. Genital warts are scientifically known as condylomata acuminate. They could grow as an individual or in clusters and appears to be pink, red or skin-tone color. They can be either flat or raised bumps and the texture can be either rough or smooth. Genital warts or any other form of warts are caused by the human papillomavirus or HPV.

The virus HPV is generally known to be highly infectious and warts and viruses can be transferred through unprotected sexual intercourse with a person who’s infected with HPV. There are over 100 strains of HPV that have already been identified and two of these strains, HPV strains 6 and 11, are the reasons why genital warts grow and a study found out that 90% of all the cases of genital warts are caused by these 2 strains. Genital warts can be found on both male and female.

Cause of Vaginal Warts

Vaginal warts take a long time to develop because the incubation period of a wart on the vagina is lengthy. Even with the long process, this has almost always been ignored, even after it has developed. The greater risk in ignoring vaginal warts even further is that they have the ability to turn themselves into a form of cancer. The areas where vaginal warts normally occur are on the vulva, anus, rectum, perineum, groin, vagina, and cervix. The normal victims of this skin infection are a female below 30 years old.

Below is a list of the common reasons for a woman to have genital warts, or specifically, vaginal warts:
• The most common cause is sexual contact with an infected person. Even if the man is wearing a condom on his penis, because it is so contagious, contact can be made with the vagina and areas around the vagina.
• HPV can also be transmitted through oral contact. However, virus prefers the genital skin tissues to those of the oral tissues.
• In unique cases, genital warts in a mother can be transmitted to a newborn through vaginal contact. This is expanded by the fact that children, including newborns, are known to have weak immune systems.
• When children have genital warts, it can be a sign of sexual abuse. In this case, please report it to the authorities immediately.
• One last rare way that a woman can contract genital warts, is through vaginal contact with a towel or the toilet of a person who is infected with HPV or who has genital warts.

Even if you are infected by HPV and have developed vaginal warts, females are still able to bear children because your vaginal warts don’t have any effects on fertility. However, your pregnancy might have complications on your vaginal warts. At the time of your pregnancy, your vaginal warts may flare up and it will make urination hard and painful. Knowing that pregnant women are frequently urinating, it will make it even more uncomfortable for them. If possible, avoid being pregnant when you are infected with HPV or have grown vaginal warts because prescribed medications for successful removal of vaginal warts are not safe for pregnant women. The worst thing that could happen is that the HPV virus can be transferred to the newborn after giving birth since there is a lot of prolonged contact with the baby and the vagina on its way out.

Symptoms of Genital Warts in Women

The reason why vaginal warts are always ignored during the early stages of their development is due to the very unspecific symptoms. After a few more weeks or months, you will start to see visual and feel sensual symptoms of vaginal warts. As described earlier, they appear to be like cauliflower in form and they grow anywhere on your vagina or anus. Their physical existing on the vagina is really the first symptom of having vaginal warts in many cases. Ignoring your vaginal warts will only make them develop even more and will start causing abnormal vaginal bleeding, excessive dampness around the growth area of warts, vaginal discharge, and itchiness on the anal, vulva and cervix areas.

As of today, there are no techniques available to detect if someone is infected with HPV. It is believed that the virus disappears on its own after the first few months without using any form of treatment. But that depends on the immune system of an infected person. This may not be the case for everyone because there are some cases where the infection developed and needed the help of professionals to treat and cure.

For you to be able to check and see if you have been infected with HPV, you may use a Pap smear test to check around your cervix for cancerous cells which will also help you see the HPV infection.

Treatment for Vaginal Warts

The treatment for vaginal warts varies depending on your overall health status, how many warts you have, and where the warts are growing. To treat vaginal warts, you have various options like cryotherapy, which is a method of freezing warts with the use of liquid nitrogen. Other female genital wart treatment options are surgical excision, Podofilox or a topical cream used to treat warts.

Laser treatment and Electrocautery, which is the method of removing warts through the use of electricity can be used to remove warts from the outer parts of the vagina. Of all these treatments, the most commonly used treatment is laser surgery, where a laser beam is used to dissolve the wart, burning it from the top portion of the wart until it’s fully removed.

The unfortunate thing about doing some of these treatments is that they sometimes leave scars. On the other hand, it shouldn’t much of a problem for some since the genital area and anus are always covered and cannot be seen in public. You might also consider immunotherapy which boosts your immune system to fight off the virus.

Medical practitioners normally use Imiquimod for immunotherapy treatment. Even after treating and removing vaginal warts successfully, there is no guarantee that they will not return. As long as you have the HPV infection in you, they may occur again on the same spot, or in a different spot in or around the vaginal area.

As most people have mentioned, prevention is better than having to go through options to cure any kind of vaginal disease. Of all warts that you can get, the genital warts are the riskiest (especially for women) because there is a chance that benign warts can become cancerous. Some researchers say that people who smoke have higher risks for acquiring genital warts when infected with HPV.

In the case of female genital warts, or vaginal warts, it is advised to be precautionary. Vaccination against HPV is widely available in the market today. The two vaccines used for females are called Gardasil and Cervarix. These two vaccines are given at a young age before teenagers indulge in their first sexual contact. Since having female genital warts is a sexually transmitted infection, condoms could also be of help to some extent.

Another precaution you can take is to avoid all forms of oral or anal sex. In these modern times, there is an increase in HPV infection cases due to oral sex. Most of all, be loyal to your partners. It is not only beneficial to your happiness and relationship but, it is also beneficial to your health. Sticking with one partner or not having sex at all is one of the ways to prevent yourself from acquiring genital warts.

Female genital warts can create awkward situations for a woman. Once detected, genital warts give enough time for curing. Treatments like over-the-counter medicines and natural remedies can easily cure warts in a lot of cases and save women from this discomforting disease.

For more information about genital warts in general as well as warts on men, warts.org/types/genital-wart.

For other types of warts, simply head back to the warts.com home page or check out the navigation above.

Anal Warts on Women

Women can get warts on their anus or rectum as well. The treatments, symptoms, and details are just like other forms of genital warts.

Vaginal Wart Pictures

General Warning: Pictures below are graphics and have been sent in from actual sufferers. These are intended to be used for medical purposes only.