[Question #7052] A warts tale

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60 months ago
Hi doctors.What a year... I'm sorry to bother you again, but I am sort of confused here :)

Two years ago I had a mole excised from one of my toes by a dermatologist.  At the site of the excision I developed what I thought was a callum.  However, at another visit to the dermatologist due to another pesky new mole at my back, I showed the callum to the derma and he said "oh, this is a wart!".  He treated it in subsequent visits (it was large) successfully.  In one of the follow-up visits, the derm biopsied a pimple next to my nose, that wouldn't heal.  It turned to be a "viral acanthoma" according to the pathologist, i.e. another wart!  The biopsy itself was enough to cure it apparently, as the bump is gone now.So at that point, I became paranoid and in the control visit to the derm, yesterday, I showed the dermatologist other spots:
- Something on my cheek that I have had for about two years, that also appeared after a pimple healed.  Turned out to be a wart under the dermascope.
- Something on my chest that I have had for about two years, or more.  Turned out to be another wart under the dermascope.
- A mole-like brownish little bump on my groin, that I discovered a few weeks ago when examining myself for warts.  It was difficult to see behind the pubic hair.  The dermatologist looked at it under the dermascope, and said "yes, another wart!".

So you see, apparently I have been walking around all warty for years, wtf :D  Well, I asked the dermatologist to laser them all out. After coming back home yesterday all lasered, I thought "wait, this wart on the groin... isn't that a genital wart?".  Thing is, at this point I'm not sure whether I should consider myself to have genital warts... toe, face, chest, groin (not penis proper)... Should I? In that case, what should I do sexually speaking from now on?
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60 months ago
I write too much and my English is not good, so I better summarize: during the last two months I have had three warts removed/treated from my face, one from my chest, one from a toe, and one from the groin/pubis.  Technically speaking, do I have genital warts?  In that case, what makes the groin wart so different to the others? What should I do now?  Thanks.
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60 months ago
Sorry a little aclaration: by "groin" I mean the pubis, just above the penis.
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
60 months ago
This is not an STD problem and thus off topic for this forum. Common skin warts are caused by HPV types that are not sexually transmitted, and the forum moderators here don't know much about the sort of problem you have. You'll get much better advice from your dermatologist; or of you want to seek advice online, a dermatology forum would make sense.

Sorry I can't be more helpful.

HHH, MD
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