Genital warts are caused by a virus called human papilloma virus (HPV). It is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections.

You can have HPV and not get genital warts. There is another type of HPV that causes warts that you might find elsewhere on your body, such as your hand.

Symptoms

Genital warts do not usually hurt, although symptoms can be:

• itching
• a little bleeding from warts inside the vagina or anus.

How it is transmitted

Genital warts are spread by close skin-to-skin contact. Sex, especially penetrative anal and vaginal sex, is the main way that warts are passed on. If you have sex with someone who has genital warts you may get the virus that causes warts as well.

Warts cannot be caught from toilet seats or swimming pools. Also, as the warts on your hands are a different type to genital warts, they cannot be passed from someone’s hand to your genitals.

What can I do if I think I have genital warts?

If you think you have genital warts you can go to a NHS sexual health clinic. You can read more about clinics and find your nearest one elsewhere on this website. You can also visit one of our Fastest clinics or your local or family doctor (GP).

By law sexual health clinics cannot tell anyone about your visit. However, these rules do not apply to your GP who can tell other people that you have had an appointment with them.

Testing

The doctor or nurse can usually tell whether you have warts just by looking.  However, they may have to check by putting some drops of liquid onto the lump. This does not hurt at all.

Treatment

Occasionally warts go away by themselves. However, it is best not to rely on this but to get help from a doctor. The doctor may treat them by:

• painting them with a liquid
• freezing them with gas (which is a bit like dry ice).

These methods will gradually remove the warts and are not painful.

Sometimes you may have to visit the doctor a number of times over a few months for treatment until the warts have gone.

Why get treated?

Some women who get warts worry that HPV is linked to cancer of the cervix.  The most common type of HPV is not linked to cancer, although some of the much rarer types are. Nevertheless, it is important that women over the age of 20 have a regular cervical smear test.

Protect yourself and others

Using a condom can help protect against getting genital warts. Remember also that using a condom will help protect you against getting or passing on other sexually transmitted infections.