Treatment of Genital Warts - Essay Example

Genital warts are most prevalent in persons who practice unprotected sex with multiple sex partners. Others include "having another sexually transmitted disease, having sex with a partner who has an unknown sexual history, and becoming sexually active at a young age (Genital Warts 2007)." Treatment of genital warts should always be undertaken by a physician with this expertise. Over-the-counter medications used to treat common warts are not suitable for the moist tissues in the genital area.

The treatment of genital warts includes medical prescriptions and surgery. Some of the chemicals which are directly applied onto the skin are imiquimod which boosts the body's immune system to fight warts, podofilox which destroys genital warts' tissues, and trichloroacetic acid which burns off genital warts. Surgery is often the best option if larger warts are to be removed so that they do not respond to medications or if the infected person is pregnant which exposes the baby to the risk of infection during delivery.

Surgery is done through cryotherapy or freezing warts with liquid nitrogen, electrocautery, surgical excision, or laser treatments. Since genital warts are caused by a virus, this disease is not eliminated after treatment (Genital Warts 2007). Failure to treat genital warts increases the chance of transmitting the disease to a person's sexual partner. Certain kinds of HPV cells are also associated with the formation of abnormal cells on the cervix which causes cervical cancer in women. 

HPV is also linked with cancer of the vulva, cancer of the anus, and cancer of the penis. Genital warts can also cause problems during pregnancy especially difficulty in urination. During childbirth, genital warts can hamper the ability of the vaginal tissues to fully stretch. A mother with a genital wart can pass on the virus to the baby's throat, necessitating surgery to prevent airway obstruction (Genital Warts 2007).