Diagnosing Anogenital Warts

When you visit the doctor, they can quite easily diagnose anogenital warts. You would only know if you have anogenital warts when you have an outbreak of the warts themselves and a visual diagnosis can be made by the doctor during this time. There are not many other things that the warts on the genital region can be so a doctor can quite easily diagnose anogenital warts if the warts are present.

The doctor will ask to examine the infected area and ask you how long you have had the symptoms. They will look at the area and be able to tell by the shape and clustering of the lumps that they are anogenital warts. The only cause of anogenital warts is the human Papilloma virus and so they can determine that you have the sexually transmitted infection from this. They can then start you on a course of treatment and answer any questions you might have about the infection.

The doctor may take a biopsy of the warts if they are unsure of the diagnosis. This usually happens when the warts won’t respond to the treatment given to treat anogenital warts or if they dramatically worsen over a certain time frame. A biopsy is where they will take a sample of the warts and send them to the lab to be tested.

Another method of diagnosis is testing for the virus that causes the anogenital warts and this can be done by testing for the DNA of the HPV virus. However, this is not normally carried out because the treatment for the warts will be exactly the same, regardless of the outcome. Sometimes, they might add a 3% solution of acetic acid to the top of the warts because the skin will turn white on contact if the HPV infection is present.

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