Im a 27 year old male who recently visited my dermatologist to remove two genital warts from my pubic region. I had to do this same procedure once before. The dermatologist used the biopsy method where he essentially cut them off. The last time I did this he sent them into the lab to be sure they were HPV/Genital Warts in which they came back as HPV. This time around he also sent the two warts he cut off to the lab and this time he called me up and said one of my warts was low risk hpv and one of the warts was high risk hpv. In which I asked what high risk meant and he explained I can give my partner cancer and I’m at risk of Bowen’s disease. 

After hearing this, I’ve went into a bit of a panic as I was ok with having HPV as I understand my body can very well fight this off and it’s extremely common. But, after hearing I can give my partner cancer and I’m at risk of Bowen’s disease I’ve been quite nervous. 

This has lead me to do some reading on the CDC website along with John Hopkins & every other article I can find and they all say the virus that causes warts is not the same strain that causes cancer. Additionally, unless I specifically search up Bowen’s disease there’s no mention of it in HPV articles.  Lastly, everything I read mentions there’s no test for HPV strains in men.

So my questions are, 

1.) Is this dermatologist wrong? 

2.) Can you even test a genital wart to figure out if it is high risk or low risk? 

3.) Can I give my partner cancer? 

4.) Am I at a higher risk of cancer or Bowen’s disease? 

I appreciate your help in clarifying this for me and hopefully providing some peace of mind as this has been quite stressful to hear and I’m not sure what to believe. 

Thank you. 

Some basic facts about HPV, which you may not have picked up in your research, are pertinent. Everbody gets it; most people probably catch a few different genital HPV infection, often several. The virus tends to persist -- so much so that at any point in time, 30-50% of healthy people without warts or any other visible abnormality test positive on genital HPV DNA testing. And among those, the high risk types are among the most common. With few exceptions, every sexual encounter risks HPV transmission to a greater or lesser degree. To your questions:

2) Wart tissue can be tested for HPV, and it sounds like it was in your case. But it really doesn't matter and therefore is rarely done. The specific HPV type makes no difference in treatment or potential for transmssion, and the risk of cancer usually is too low to matter, even with the high risk types.

3) Assuming your partner has had several other sexual partners over time, you can be sure she has already been infected with HPV, including a strong likelihood she's had (and may still carry) one or more high risk types. This is why all women need regular pap smears -- not only women at high risk for STD. Your partner is at no higher risk of future cervical or vulvar cancer because of sex with you than she otherwise would be.

4) Higher risk than what? Yes, you're at higher risk than someone who never had genital HPV, or someone who only had a low-risk HPV infection. However, you're at no higher risk than most men. since nearly all have had genital HPV infection including high risk types. they all are at some risk. Your right might be slightly higher, but still extremely low. Also, penile cancer rarely is disastrous:  it typically causes a small wart-like lesion or sore to start, then takes many years to progress to anything that really matters; and these cases bypically are easily cured by minor surgery. Drastic treatments (e.g. penile amputation) is almost never necessary, and penile cancer is almost never life threatening. Nobody wants it, but it's not something that anyone should worry seriously about. And the chance is similar in men with and without diagnosed genital warts.

I hope these comments help you achieve the peace of mind you seek! Let me know if anything isn't clear.

HHH, MD

Thank you