I'm a 34 yr old female. Was recently talking to my friend about her history of genital warts. Which reminded me of when I had a single skin tag (or at least what I thought was one) removed from my vaginal opening 12 yrs ago. I realize HPV is quite common, but now I'm wondering if I had a genital wart? Do they ever appear as a singular lump/tag? Should I consider the HPV immunization?

In addition, approx. 2 years ago I was diagnosed with GHSV1 after my bf who had oral herpes performed oral sex on me. I had a mild first outbreak around my clitoris & no recurrences since. I’m single yet again & have been quite open about diagnosis with multiple friends & my mom as support. Everyone is quite confused why I'm disclosing genital herpes to prospective partners if I'm only asymptotically shedding 4 days a year. My friends with cold sores think it's beyond overkill. I'm confused as well. Men always panic & think I'm talking about HSV2 no matter what I say. Also, I'm Canadian & my CDC estimates that 89%  of ppl carry antibodies here. Help, please. 

At age 30 for the decision about whether or not to get the HPV vaccine is a personal one. Over a year ago the US FDA approved use of the HPV vaccine for persons up to age 45. Initial recommendations which stopped at age 26 were based on data that the majority of persons have acquired HPV by age 26. Since that time however additional HPV types Have been added to the vaccine so that it now covers a total of the nine most common HPV types. It is highly effective and may reduce your risk for acquisition of HPV types which you have not acquired as of yet. In addition emerging information suggests that the immune response brought about by the HPV vaccine may assist in helping HPV infections to be controlled by a persons immune system.  If the cost of the vaccine is not an issue for you I saw no reason to not get the vaccine but, as I mentioned above, This is a personal choice.

Regarding your genital HSV-1 infection, while I congratulate you on your openness and practice of disclosure, At the same time, I agree that routine disclosure to persons with a less complete understanding of HSV-1 epidemiology and the fact that genital HSV-1 is almost never transferred to others through genital sexual contact suggests that your decision to disclose may be more than is necessary.  This response is based on the fact that misunderstandings regarding the negligible risk of transmission of genital HSV-1 is so pervasive and the risk so low.  In general we do not feel strongly that disclosure of genital HSV-1 should be disclosed.  

I hope these answers are helpful to you.  If anything I said it is unclear or if there are follow-up questions please don’t hesitate to use you were up to two follow-ups for clarification. EWH