r/HPV

Is it true that someone can get tested 100 times over the course of a year and have all the results come back negative, and then 10 years later get tested again and test positive? How can someone live with the uncertainty of whether they have HPV or not? That really scares me.

I recently had sexual relations with sex workers, and I’m very afraid of this. I can’t live with the uncertainty of whether I have HPV or not, or whether I could infect my future wife and she could contract the virus.

Hi all! I’ve dealt with off-and-on recurrences for about five years now, and I currently have a girlfriend. I’m just looking for some guidance on how others handle sex while dealing with HPV.

One issue I’ve run into is that I’ll check beforehand to make sure everything looks normal and that there aren’t any visible warts. But I feel like I almost always find a way to convince myself that something might be a wart.

It could be a skin tag, an irritated hair follicle, a benign bump, or just normal skin, but once I notice it, I start questioning it. Then we end up avoiding sex until it goes away because I don’t want to risk exposing her if it actually is a wart.

It’s becoming frustrating because I’m never completely sure what is or isn’t a wart, and realistically, I can’t go to the doctor every single time I notice a bump or something looks slightly different.
For those of you who have dealt with recurrent genital warts while in a relationship, how do you handle this?

Do you only avoid sex when you’re pretty confident you have an active wart, or do you take a more cautious approach with anything questionable?
Any advice or experiences would be appreciated!

She does have the vaccine btw.

Just need to vent for a bit. I'm 25M.

So I've made the mistake of having unprotected sex a few months ago, I think it was March. A few weeks later I noticed some very small bumps in my butthole and got scared but told myself they had always been there and I hadn't noticed, but everytime I showered I would notice them and get worried. After I had a bleeding on the area I got super scared and went to what we call a Basic Health Unit in my country. I got tested for most STIs and my results were clear. A few days later i went to a Health Center focused on STIs and was examined, they confirmed what I have is HPV and genital warts.

I felt better after speaking with the doctors (despite massive shame of having to show them my butthole) and was confident that it would go away on its own after the GWs were removed. Unfortunately after they were removed for the first time they grew back, I already did the procedure twice and it keeps growing back. These warts are very small, I should mention. The doctor kept saying I should be examined to check if there are any internal anal warts but that she didn't have the equipment to do so at the time (the Health Center focused on STIs is part of a Public/Universal Healthcare system).

So basically I'm doing what I have to do, got my small warts removed and I'm waiting for my body to fight this shit but I'm getting desperate. I went after the HPV vaccine and already had my first shot (it's 3 I believe, from my research I'm most likely taking HPV4). One day I decided to examine myself and I found out I do have an internal anal wart and it's much bigger than the ones on the outside. Sometimes there's blood when I go number 2 so that's also stressful, it has decreased after a while at least.

I don't know what to do now. I went after private doctors but just an appointment is US$ 310–545 (I don't know if this sounds expensive in dollars but trust me it's expensive in my currency), I don't know if tests and procedures will cost more and I have no money.

Plus, I don't know if this is a silly part, but sex is a basic human need. I feel like my sex life is over, I'm young, my life is going to change next year and I want to date, have relationships, have sex, it feels so fucking unfair and cruel that this could take 2 years of my life or even more.

Hello, did anyone developed genital warts while they were pregnant. I am in my last trimester and a wart has now shown up in perianal area it is pretty small but I am still scared.

Hello! Diagnosed with HPV 18/45 with no abnormal cells. Went in for my Colposcopy at the end of July and GYN said he didn't see anything unusual.. he took biopsies anyways as he mentioned that's standard when you have high risk type HPV virus. I got a text today asking to book an appt to go over test results. Very vague.. I tried to call his office cause now I'm in a panic trying to understand what this could mean.. obviously I know something has come back on the biopsy because he told me he won't follow up if there's nothing and to call at the end of Aug if I haven't heard - but question is have you ever experienced this??! I'm so anxious now.. spiraling.

my (26F) family doctor confirmed I have GWs, but did not refer me to a gyno yet. because of this i paid to see a nurse practitioner in a private clinic who prescribed imiquimod 5% for use 3 days a week. She insisted I start with this because GW removal with cryotherapy is really painful despite me wanting them gone ASAP.

I have used this cream for a week and am having extreme pain and swelling on my inner labia. I have many GW so it is hard to isolate an area for the cream. It is so painful now though I have to take a break as the skin is red and raw, but seeing no changes to the GW yet after only one week of use.

Anyone, especially with female anatomy, have any insight or experience with this treatment method? Should i push for cryotherapy if it is this painful anyways?

Thanks in advance.

I think I should leave him ? full disclosure I posted this on a different subreddit and was recommended to post it here instead

I 22F have been chatting to this 40M for months now and we’ve decided to take things to the next level. For context I am a virgin and I got myself involved with him to explore more of my sexuality and I have tried doing this with a couple of guys my age who I have dated but they’ve never been fully onboard. This man is fully on board with doing things on my terms and he doesn’t pressure me into doing anything that I don’t want. Aside from our very questionable relationship he is a great guy. I’m not saying all this to make him seem like a nice guy.

We usually send each other sfw and nsfw pictures most being faceless. Tonight he sent me a dick pic and I didn’t think much of it until I saw something that made me question a lot of things. I noticed he had some warts near his dick and started doing my research. I found out that they are warts caused by a certain strain for HPV. I have been vaccinated for HPV when I was in high school but I am very much aware you can still contract it.

My issue is, he didn’t bring up anything that is related to his sexual health after I’ve brought up the topic and I’m just taken aback by what I’ve discovered. The obvious should be to end things with him to not put myself at a higher risk of getting cervical cancer and to also go get tested for HPV with my OBGYN. Yet a part of me feels like I should revisit this conversation with him and also put the options on the table with him and tell him that I no longer want to be intimate with him. I am aware of other alternatives such as practicing safe sex but I feel like he has broken my trust by not making me aware .

So should I ghost him without giving him a reason?

or

Should I revisit the topic with him and talk? ( I don’t want to be jumping to conclusion)

I was searching on diff forums like HealthTap etc and Drs/Experts were saying that HPV transmission from Mouth to Genitals are rare/not likely but it is easy to acquire HPV from Genitals into the Mouth.

Why is that so? Any solid explanation behind this?

Secondly, why oral HPV infections are less common if they are so easy to get acquired? For example, easy to get oral infection from genitals.

And before clearing Oral HPV, sexually active people may be keep infecting Genitals and never know by giving them Oral Sex. IS THAT RIGHT? As websites say that oral infections take 1~2 years to clear. Between this time, are people at risk?

Thanks in Advance

I’ve (m25) recently started dating someone (f27) that disclosed they tested positive for HPV during their routine pap. This was disclosed before we had any sexual contact and we have now since had intercourse with a condom and she’s given me oral sex. I would like to perform oral sex on her but am struggling to identify the potential risks of doing so for someone that doesn’t have strain 16 or 18 and also has no gw based on what I can find online. Trying to understand the potential risks and if I should wait for her to clear the virus or if it doesn’t matter at this point since we’ve had intercourse and she’s also given me oral.

Edit: we are both vaccinated. I completed my round of vaccines at age 15

I recently found out that I have high-risk HPV and abnormal cervical cell changes I’ve been with my boyfriend for four years, and I was a virgin before we got together, so I know the HPV must have come from one of his previous partners.
I understand that HPV is incredibly common, that he didn’t knowingly give it to me and that neither of us has done anything wrong. Emotionally, though, I’m really struggling with the fact that something from his past is now affecting my body and health. I’m the one having to attend appointments, worry about the abnormal cells and go for a colposcopy. It keeps triggering feelings of anger and resentment toward him and his past.
He has been supportive, but I still find myself thinking that if he hadn’t contracted HPV from a previous partner, I wouldn’t now be going through all of this. I know that thought might not be completely fair, but it’s honestly how I feel at the moment.
Has anyone else experienced these feelings after being diagnosed? How did you cope with the resentment, stop connecting the diagnosis to your partner’s sexual past and manage the anxiety surrounding the appointments?

Yeah HPV is super common but also genital warts are very common. A fact that eased my mind and in my opinion is not brought up here enough. Or if it is, this is a reminder 😁. For example in that Danish study they found:

”We conducted a population-based cross-sectional study in 69,147 women (18-45 years of age) randomly chosen from the general population in Denmark, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. Information on clinically diagnosed genital warts and lifestyle habits was collected using a questionnaire. Overall, 10.6% reported ever having had clinically diagnosed genital warts. In addition, 1.3% reported having experienced genital warts within the past 12 months.”

Yeah 1 percent prevalence at any given time but lifetime likleyhood ~ 1 / 10 ! Its likely that you have friend or many that has or has had them.

I was diagnosed with HPV 16 almost 2 months back! I’m 31 female, was dating someone at the time and randomly got my Pap smear only to get the news about this high risk Hpv! Pap came back AScus, colpo was normal as per my obgyn, but she still took biopsy just to be sure! I’m still waiting on my results, meanwhile I have been taking supplements and trying to be active and eating healthy as much as possible. I take ahcc, b12, iron, women’s probiotics, vitamin D and EGCG. I took it for one month before I had my colpo and the obgyn told me my cervix looks normal. I think supplements might have helped me a little bit. But the more I google the more I see Hpv 16 is very difficult to clear. How hard is it as compared to other strains? I really want honest answers! I’m also celibating at the moment as I wanna clear this first before I get into a relationship.

Hello there,

I'm going to make it quick to explain what happened and what seems to have worked for me :
august 2024 I had a first GW in my groin, went to my GP and treated it with podophyllotoxin.
Starting that, every 2/3 month for a year I had a reoccurrence, on my goin once, and then only on my penis. I treated every occurrences with podophyllotoxin, tried, vitamins & so on, nothing seemed to work for 1 year almost to the date (my first flare was 08/01/2024 & my last the 08/03/2025 :p).
I tried inosine pranobex for a while without success but, after a few month of stopping it, I started treating my 2 last warts with verrutop + inosine pranobex in the background, as proposed by xdhpv (many thanks to him, his advices have been precious), as apparently, inosine can be efficient with a combined action.
Long story short, since I tried that I haven't had an occurrence in 1 year. I'm not considering myself out of the blue (and tbh, I have other issues that make that thing look anecdotical, I wish I didn't stress about it since it's such a small thing compared to other afflictions but, it's easier said than done :') ), and if it comes back, I'll just treat it the same way I did before & move one.

Anyway, I thought I would share that story with you since it's very easy to stumble on the bad stuff and not that much on the good, I wish good luck to anyone facing it, feel free to ask questions if you have any :)

Just need to vent a bit.

I am a male in my 30s, and have been talking with a girl for a little while now. We met up for the first time today.

Everything was great. We were hitting it off very well. Probably the best first date I’ve ever been on. There was definitely a lot of mutual attraction. And I felt like we vibed a lot (or at least more than I’ve ever vibed with someone before on a first date)

The conversation eventually turned to past sexual partners and experience etc… and eventually lead to me disclosing that I may have HPV (one of my past partners from many years ago had it). She was very concerned about this.

She said she’s gotta do her own research on it. She’s now basically ghosted me. And it’s looking like it’s probably done.

I feel like shit. Like I had to be honest about it, but now I regret it. Especially because like half the population has it. She could have even had it at one point in her life and didn’t even realize.

Anyone else ever go through this? I feel like I’m some disgusting monster. And there’s nothing I can do about it.

I don't understand this. I keep reading but there are different opinions so it gets me confused, can you really clear the virus off or is just that your immune system gets it under control?

I saw my anal warts first time popping up around May this year and got tested positive for HPV - 51,59,82 (HR) and 6(LR). Took my first shot of Gardasil 9 in may and second in June. After my second shot i decided to get my warts removed via laser and after two weeks when i thought i have cleared them (physical warts atleast) i saw new warts coming around my anal region again. My last dose is due in November and i am just worried if this will be my life-getting warts removed every 2 weeks.
Some facts -

1. 32 Male
2. Taking daily Vitamin cocktail (IM8)
3. On weight loss journey - calorie deficit high protein diet
4. Stopped drinking alcohol since first removal procedure
5. Non smoker
   .
   What else can i do to build my immunity or work towards restricting wart occurrence
   Yes i am freaking out and yes i do get stressed out

Hi everyone!

I noticed that I had genital warts at the beginning of July, but my gynecologist postponed the removal because of my vacation and menstrual cycles. My removal is scheduled for Tuesday (August 18), but since the beginning of July they have spread quite a lot. I have them around my anus, on my vulva, and even internally.

I’m having them removed using radiofrequency ablation, and I’m wondering if it will be possible to remove all of them in one treatment, or if I’ll need multiple sessions.

I’m also worried about scarring. Will the scars remain permanently, or do they usually fade over time after radiofrequency removal?

Has anyone had a similar experience? I’d really appreciate hearing about your experiences. Thank you!

Hi everyone I was recently diagnosed (late June) with low risk hpv 6-11 by a biopsy on a walk in with a dermatologist, the only thing she explained was that it’s very common and if she dealt with someone who had this problem 5 years ago it wouldn’t be a problem for her to date. I get where she’s coming from but still this is playing over and over in my head. My dream is to have kids and a family but with this diagnosis it seems like it’ll be impossible. When I eventually found out I only had one acne sized wart and a flat one, ever since then haven’t noticed any new ones only itching that has calmed down from the initial day I received the biopsy. Im currently taking to a girl and she says I changed because when we started speaking I didn’t have any warts so I was carefree but while we started getting closer the hpv manifested and its killed my confidence. I don’t want to transmit anything to her but I also don’t want to lose her, we’ve gotten so close and even said we love each other. My question being this: is this forever or a temporary hurdle? With me being young and quitting smoking aswell as changing my diet can that boost my immune response to remove this? What should I do with this girl moving forward? Does it ever get better? Can this be passed onto my kids if my lady is pregnant? Will I ever be able to kiss my future daughter or son’s cheek without infecting?

Cleared HPV HR after 3 years, cin2 downgraded to cin1, no leep procedure, have been eating healthy, working out and had the HPV vaccine, grateful for the supportive I’ve received from this group 🥳💕

Duelen los diagnósticos clínicos,
Duelen los pinchazos y la piel quemada,
Duelen las cicatrices,
Duelen la autoestima y la inseguridad,
Duelen las decisiones,
Duelen la garganta y los ojos,
Duelen el corazón y la conciencia,
Duelen el tiempo y cariño que di,
Duelen las ilusiones y desilusiones,
Duelen los amores fallidos,
Duelen las pérdidas,
Duelen la incertidumbre y la ansiedad,
Duelen los secretos,
Duelen los llantos en silencio,
Duelen los sueños rotos,
Duelen las veces que pensé en ponerle fin a la agonía
Duele la maldita existencia

**Contexto:**
Mi ex novio me contagió de dos ETS, molusco contagioso y VPH. Me salieron verrugas que tuvieron que cauterizarme y me pusieron vacunas. Todo ese proceso fue doloroso a nivel fisico y emocional (encima de todos los gastos que implica). Cuando terminé con él, estuve con otras personas y lo más probable es que les haya contagiado. La culpa me mata todos los días y también siento ira porque ese ex me lastimó y me quitó muchas cosas: me robó dinero, se llevó mi autoestima y la posibilidad de amar de nuevo. Obviamente sabiendo mi diagnóstico no quiero poner en riesgo a nadie.

Me siento muy sola, me avergüenza hablar de este tema. Tengo depresión y ansiedad diagnosticados entonces cada día es una batalla interna.

Gracias por leerme.