What happens if genital warts are untreated

If you are pregnant and have HPV, you can get genital warts or develop abnormal cell changes on your cervix. Abnormal cell changes can be found with routine cervical cancer screening. You should get routine cervical cancer screening even when you are pregnant.

There is no treatment for the virus itself. However, there are treatments for the health problems that HPV can cause:. Cervical Cancer Screening. Box Rockville, MD E-mail: npin-info cdc. Skip directly to site content Skip directly to page options Skip directly to A-Z link. Human Papillomavirus HPV. Section Navigation. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Syndicate. Minus Related Pages.

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You will be subject to the destination website's privacy policy when you follow the link. You can go right back to your normal activities after the procedure, but expect a lot of watery discharge for up to three weeks as the area heals.

Electrodessication is a treatment that needs to be performed by a specialist. Your surgeon will use an electrical current to burn and destroy external genital warts, and then scrape away the dried tissue. Research has found the surgery to be highly effective. One study found that 94 percent of people who had six weekly sessions of electrodessication were clear of genital warts. Healing time takes four to six weeks.

Laser surgery is also a specialist procedure. Your surgeon uses a laser light to burn away wart tissue. You may require local or general anesthesia depending on the size and number of warts. Recovery should take a few weeks. Most HPV infections that cause genital warts will go away on their own, taking anywhere from a few months to two years.

But even if your genital warts disappear without treatment, you may still have the virus. When left untreated, genital warts can grow very large and in big clusters. They are also more likely to return.

You should wait to have sex at least two weeks after your warts have cleared. You should also talk to your sexual partners about your HPV status before engaging in sexual activity. Wearing a condom will reduce your risk of transmitting HPV. This includes dental dams and male or female condoms. Although genital warts may clear on their own, HPV may still be in your body.

Treatment will help get rid of warts and reduce future outbreaks, though you may have to repeat treatments to clear warts completely. It may take a few months to treat the warts, and you could go years without an outbreak. Make sure to wear a condom every time you have sex , as HPV can spread without warts present.

Genital warts are soft growths on the genitals caused by certain strains of human papillomavirus HPV. Learn about symptoms, treatment, and more. The human papillomavirus HPV is a common infection affecting 1 in 4 U. There are a variety of ways to treat genital warts. A doctor or nurse will discuss the different choices with you.

The treatment they recommend will depend on what the warts look like, how many you have and where they are. The options include:. Treatments can cause irritation and soreness for a couple of days, so the doctor may recommend you use some pain-relieving drugs. If left untreated, genital warts may disappear, stay the same, or grow larger in size or number.

Over time, most warts will eventually go away without treatment. For some people this may take a long time, particularly if you have an illness that affects the way your immune system works, making it difficult to fight off infection. It's not usually harmful to your health if the warts aren't treated but you may find them uncomfortable and may not like the way they look. Treating the warts may reduce the risk of you passing them on to someone else.

For most people, warts go away within a few weeks or months of starting treatment. Sometimes the warts can be stubborn, and treatment may have to be repeated a number of times. It can also take a while for the treatment to start working. They may recommend a change in treatment.

Evidence suggests that smokers respond less well to treatment than non-smokers. Sometimes the warts come back see below. Some people only ever get one episode of genital warts. For many others, the warts can come back. If you do get new genital warts, it's not possible to say if these are due to the original infection or a new infection.

You may be advised to avoid sex until the warts have cleared up to help protect the affected area. Sex without a condom when you have warts can increase the risk of passing on HPV to a partner.

The condom needs to cover the affected area of skin. Tell the doctor or nurse that you're pregnant as this may affect the treatment they can offer you. The types of HPV types 6 and 11 that cause most visible genital warts are only very rarely associated with cancer. Some other types of HPV can cause cell changes that may lead to cancer.

Young people who were eligible to be vaccinated at school but missed the vaccine can be vaccinated for free up to the age of Men who have sex with men and are aged up to 45 can be vaccinated for free at sexual health and HIV clinics. Some other people, including some trans people, sex workers, and people living with HIV may be able to have the vaccine for free - ask your doctor or nurse.

It's possible to get a sexually transmitted infection STI by having sex with someone who has an STI, even if they have no symptoms. The following measures will help protect you from getting and passing on genital warts and most other STIs such as chlamydia , gonorrhoea and HIV. This website can only give you general information. Print this page. You can still pass the virus on, and the warts may come back. The HPV vaccine that's offered to girls and boys aged 12 to 13 in England protects against cervical cancer and genital warts.

Find out more about the HPV vaccine. Most pregnant women with genital warts have a vaginal delivery. Very rarely you might be offered a caesarean, depending on your circumstances. Page last reviewed: 24 August Next review due: 24 August Genital warts. Non-urgent advice: Go to a sexual health clinic if you have:. Small, rough wart below the vagina Credit:. Information: Why you should go to a sexual health clinic You can see a GP, but they'll probably refer you to a sexual health clinic if they think you might have genital warts.