[Question #6227] HPV

69 months ago

Brief synopsis, I'm a former veteran who served for six years in the Army. I left the army at 26 after six- years of service.

From 2015 while still in the Army and having steady relations with eight women, I developed a small bump on the upper portion of my penis. No woman ever complained, I was checked for STDS, this bump was obvious but no army physician ever said anything.

2016 I leave the army. And rekindle my relationship with my kids mom. She immediately ask, what’s this, I respond, idk a hair bump or skin tag. Fast forward 2019, we have another son, he’s healthy, life is we’ll

April 2019 I go to the veterans affairs hospital

for an appointment, I was having issues urinating. So, it wasn’t an std after sending me to urology. Apparently they think I have a stricture... He reviews my manhood, perfect, except for the wart. Lol, nah this isn’t a wart.

I leave the appointment, with anger. For the diagnosis and quickly make an appointment with an outside provider, with my now wife hand in hand.

She looks and says, def not a wart! My wife says no do a biopsy, so, I’m learning happy wife, happy life. We do a biopsy, squamous papilloma (AKA WART), no high grade dysplasia or malignancy seen, this all took place June 2019.

After begging my wife to go to the doctor which she finally goes. Her reason for the push back, my Pap smear was normal almost a year and half ago while I was pregnant.

MY QUESTIONS

She goes to the doctor on September 2019

Pap smear normal. They don’t give her the hpv test, I ask why, my pap was normal...you’re 32 and I have HPV, I RELAY that I have hpv to her PC... he says ohhhhhh, they give her a co test

Results

Higher than normal

Hpv16 negative

Hpv18 negative

She finally got her first wart after almost three years of sex last week on her thigh.

Question 1 if we keep having sex will this be the reason she has an persistent infection and can’t clear the virus?

Question 2. I have developed two smaller warts one on the scrotum, and one on the meaty part under the head of the penis(I think) ! the one on the scrotum is itchy. Will I give her new warts while...Having unprotected sex with visible warts on my penis?

Question 3 I performed oral sex on her last night for the first time since her hpv results. I didn’t see any warts... not that I was looking that hard. Will this be an issue in the future developing warts in my mouth or anything dealing with the high risk hpv she may have..

Question 4 she doesn’t have hpv 16 and 18. However, the hpv co test she took was abnormal... why can’t they tell her what strain she has. I would assume she has the same strain I have, but if she did, I think her hpv co test should’ve been Normal... if from my research is correct, HPV test only look for high risk?

Question 5. How do I move on not feeling guilty about my actions I’m 30 only been with 23 or 24 women, most of my friends think I’m lying when I say that. My now wife, we have been off and on since 2012 and I haven’t been the best partner years back. I could’ve protected myself better, but living a life full of deployment and boozes and severe ptsd, I thought my life was normal.

I got tested twice before we got back together while in the army all clear. Become a disabled veteran and started using the VA services, my PC overlooked the wart, as did the military doctors ... my VA sent me to

Urology, the urologist said after checking for something different, he said I had a wart, I told my wife and I wanted a second opinion with her having knowledge of everything we went together the new doctor said def not a wart, however, the biopsy says it was a wart. I feel like I let her down she says it’s okay, but she only says that because of the paperwork I have backing everything up and the

visit to the doctor misdiagnosing me.

Recap

Will us having sex with hpv make her have a persistent infection?

Will me having a visible wart give her a new wart?

Since we share the same infection will we reinfect each other?

Her HPV co test was negative for Hpv 16 & hpv 18, what hpv does she have? Since the co test was actually higher than normal, if my wart I had the biopsy on was negative for high risk dysplasia and no malignancy seen??

Did she always possibly

Have a HPV high risk infection.... seeing the CO test was positive... to my knowledge the only reason a Hpv co test is positive is because of high risk hpv, even though she doesn’t have 16 or 18

If I keep

Shaving will I spread HPV to other areas such as my anus,? Can I shave as long as I don’t shave over the wart itself?

H. Hunter Handsfield, MD

69 months ago

Welcome back to the forum. I reviewed your recent discussion with Dr. Hook. I agree it is unlikely your genital area bump was a wart. It is a bit of a suprise that your wife has a wart on her thigh. However, it is not necessarily related to the genital bump you have (or had). Whatever the origins of your genital lesion or the wart on your wife's thigh, genital area warts shoudl be viewed as an inconvenience, not an important health threat. Nothing bad is going to come of this, in you, your wife, or your kids. Did you, or any friends, have warts on the hands or fingers when you were a kid? This problem is no more serious or significant than that kind of problem, unless you make it so. Don't get me wrong: I understand how this is a suprise and perhaps a shock. But it's still not a big deal! Having genital HPV is an expected, unavoidable consequence of being sexual. Of course you and your wife have, or have had HPV, probably other infections beyond the one causing her wart.

To your numbered questions:

1) Having sex or not has no effect on existing warts. You should not alter your sexual practices with your wife. That includes any and all sexual practices that give you mutual preasure, including oral sex (see no. 3).

2) Have the new scrotal lesions professionally examined. As you have already learned, not all skin bumps are warts, and warts are NEVER inflamed (red, sore, etc). See a doctor to learn whether your scrotal skin bumps are warts. I doubt it.

3) Oral HPV occurs, but is less common than genital HPV, Most infections cause no symptoms or disease. Most sexually active persons in the last 2-3 decades have performed oral sex, and at any point in time, up to 50% of sexually active persons have active, transmissible HPV infections. Therefore, almost everybody has been orally exposed to HPV. It is rare that any of them have any health consequences as a result. Your low chance of having oral HPV, or any health problem from it, is no higher on account of your wife's thigh wart than it is for anyone else.

4) There are 120 or more types of HPV that regularly cause genital infection. The available tests detect only 10-20 types. The type of HPV causing her wart doesn't matter anyway. That would be true even if she had HPV 16, 18, or other high risk type. Among people with these or other cancer-causing HPV types, only a small minority ever develop cancer or pre-cancerous problems. It's good she isn't infected with a high risk type. Beyond that, ithe type doesn't amtter.

5) There is nothing at all for you to feel guilty about. With that number of sex partners, it was impossible you would escape HPV. But you're no different than the large majority of the ppopulation. As I said above, getting HPV is a normal, expected aspect of being sexual. In the large majority of such persons, no harm comes -- which so far is the case for you and your wife. (And by the say, assuming she also had other sex partners before your marriage, one of those is just as likely a source of her thigh wart as you are.)

As for your following unnumbered questions, people are immune to new infections with HPV types they arleady have. Couples do not "ping pong" their HPV infections back and forht. This is nothing to worry about.

I hope these comments are helpful. They are intended to be reassuring. As I said to another forum questioner earlier today (he also asked about HPV and warts), this really is a big nothing burger! Let me know if anything isn't clear.

HHH, MD

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