Do I have HPV or not?

February 4, 2008 2:12 PM

Do I have HPV or not?

I engaged in unprotected oral sex in early December (dumb, I know). About a month later I had a terrible cold and after I recovered I noticed that there was a small soft flesh-colored bump on my scrotum about 2mm in diameter. I thought it was a skin tag and ligated it off with a piece of thread. It popped right off and didn't leave a scar. Now I can not even find the exact spot where it was. Shortly after I read an article about HPV and began to wonder if what I had just removed was in fact a genital wart. Since then, there has been no reoccurrence in that area or anywhere else as far as I can find.

There is some conflicting information out there on the Internet about HPV. Some make it sound like the end of the world, some make it sound like it is no big deal, especially if you have the strain that may cause warts (They almost always go away eventually and these are the strains that don't cause cancer, supposedly).

Two prevailing ideas I hear though is that most people who have HPV either don't know it or don't develop symptoms and diagnosis for men is not easy. Most pictures I have found look like something different than what I had or worst-case scenarios.

I went to a urologist today to ask about it and he says that it is probably not HPV. His reasons were: 1. Although genital warts can appear on the scrotum, they mostly appear on the shaft and near the head of the penis. 2. If it were a HPV wart, it probably would have returned and spread due to the way I removed it. Tying off a wart, according to him, is not very effective because in order to remove it, one needs to go a bit deeper into the skin in order to remove the immediately infected tissue.

My Questions: Does this sound feasible or should I get a second opinion? I'll probably get one anyway. If not a genital wart, what could it have been?

Throwaway email: [e-mail]

posted by anonymous to health & fitness (9 comments total)

I know that DNA tests can be done to check for HPV, and that they are pretty accurate. I don't know the specifics or about their use on men though. I also have no idea what you had/have, it's possible it was a skin tag after all.
posted by fermezporte at 2:27 PM on February 4

Doesn't sound like HPV to me, esp considering it was oral sex. Possible to transmit but not probable. Best to stop obsessing over your junk and get on with your life.
posted by otherwordlyglow at 2:27 PM on February 4 [2 favorites]

Even if it's unlikely that you've contracted HPV, getting a second opinion won't hurt - particularly as you're having doubts about the accuracy of your urologist's diagnosis. If nothing else, a second opinion will hopefully assuage your doubts; in the worst-case scenario, you'll learn that you do in fact have HPV, and can then take proactive steps toward treating it. For the sake of absolute certainty, I would get a second opinion, especially if it means protecting future partners against contracting HPV.

If it doesn't end up being HPV, but you are still concerned about what it may have been, you might consider consulting a dermatologist - figuring out skin peculiarities is their bread and butter, and they will most likely have an idea of what it could have been.
posted by numinous at 2:39 PM on February 4

I was told that it's highly unlikely to get HPV from oral sex unless you went down on her, kissed her, and she went down on you immediately. This is because the environment in your mouth is very different than the environment in your genitals, and the virus can't survive in the mouth for extended periods of time. Get a second opinion if it really matters to you, but I really don't think you'd have HPV.
posted by christinetheslp at 3:06 PM on February 4

In this case? Not very likely. But you could still have it, from some other previous sex, and would never know (passive carrier)
posted by herbaliser at 3:58 PM on February 4

You got a professional opinion from a urologist; I don't think a second opinion from anonymous people on the internet is really going to add much. But it sounds like nothing to worry about.

I think you're overthinking your frank and beans.
posted by jayder at 4:55 PM on February 4 [2 favorites]

1) Incubation of HPV is thought to be about 3 months. It's too early.
2) Warts from HPV classically spare the scrotum and generally have broader bases than it sounds like yours had (given that you could easily tie it off).
3) To be absolutely, totally sure, you'd need a biopsy. You don't currently have anything to biopsy.
4) Your urologist says no.
5) The treatment for HPV warts are essentially symptomatic treatments -- they don't get rid of the virus (although they can suppress the virus). So if you don't have warts, there's not really a point in undergoing treatment. You can, however, clear the virus on your own.
6) Every sexually active person has a relatively high chance of having HPV. Practice safe sex regardless. That's about all you can do to prevent others from contracting the virus, assuming they don't already have it.
7) You can seek a second opinion, but unless you have another lesion, they're not going to be able to tell you anything else. They're sure not going to do anything about it.
posted by LittleMissCranky at 6:21 PM on February 4 [1 favorite]

i'm pretty sure about most of this since i just edited a bunch of material for a health insurance company's website. not a doctor though.

first of, most people who are sexually active have HPV. that's why they only inoculate girls for cervical cancer (caused by a few of the over a hundred strains of HPV). once you start having sex, chances are you'll catch HPV. chances also are, that your body will subdue the virus much like you would subdue a cold virus.

you're concerned that you have one of the strains of HPV that cause genital warts. sounds like your concerned because "what else could it be?"

i'd say, deep breath time.

if it was on your elbow, would you be worried? it was a thing on your stuff. if it comes back, see a doctor.
posted by xz at 4:19 AM on February 5

A substantial percentage of people (I can't remember off the top of my head, but it's at least 40%) clear HPV from their bodies after being exposed. In other words, you could have had it and now don't any longer.

HPV can be inoculated in all kinds of ways: by sex, by yourself with your hands, by your mother when she was changing you. In other words, it's an STD that is anything but exclusively an STD.
posted by OmieWise at 4:47 AM on February 5