The most common genital warts cream that a doctor will recommend is Imiquimod. This genital warts cream is thought to work by assisting the bodies immune system in fighting off the viruses including the human papillomavirus or HPV that is the most common cause of genital warts. Imiquimod will also help to shrink the warts.

Imiquimod is a genital warts cream that is only available by prescription, but you can apply it at home yourself. Before going to bed you will apply it to genital warts three times a week. After you apply the genital warts cream you should wash your hand thoroughly. Leave the cream on for six to ten hours before washing it off. This genital warts cream can be used until the warts disappear or for up to four months.

For external warts this genital warts cream is the most likely medical treatment that a professional will recommend. Before you can use it at home a medical professional will have to teach you how to apply it. It is unknown yet if this genital warts cream can be safe to use for pregnant women or for children under the age of twelve. In the United States this genital warts cream has only been approved by the FDA for people over the age of twelve.

Benefits and Side Effects

With Imiquimod it has been reported that most warts will go away during the four moths of treatment. The Imiquimod five percent compound is more effective than the one percent compound. After completing treatment most recurrences will happen within a period of two weeks. The most common side effects associated with this genital warts cream are mild and can include skin redness, flaking of the skin, swelling and scabs.

What To Consider

You should always wash your hands after apply the cream since it can cause skin irritation. While using genital warts cream you should avoid sexual contact. The cream can also weaken condoms and diaphragms. There is also the chance that it can irritate your partner’s skin or rub off during sex.

For the duration of treatment the cost can become quite expensive and some insurance won’t cover it. Treating genital warts with Imiquimod will not cure the HPV infection that caused the genital warts. The virus will remain in the body in an inactive state even after the warts disappear. This means you can still spread the infection to others. To reduce the risk of HPV infection condoms will help but it is unknown exactly how much protection they provide.

There is no permanent cure for either genital warts or the HPV virus. Doctors do provide several symptomatic treatments that successfully remove genital warts. However, there is no guarantee that they will not recur. And as it so happens, once a patient has suffered from genital warts, despite treatment, they do recur from time to time.

The very first kind of treatment that people opt for is topical medications. These are available in cream or gel form. These medications work by attacking and breaking down wart tissue. Genital warts can be treated at home using prescription medications. Doctors generally prescribe medications like podofilox (Condylox) or imiquimod (Aldara) which patients can apply by themselves at home.

It is always better to get prescription topical medications for genital warts. Topical applications available for other kinds of warts may prove to be harmful for the highly sensitive genital area.

Genital warts can also be removed by doctors. The methods usually adopted for removal of genital warts are cryosurgery, electrocautery and the use of trichloroacetic acid. The procedure known as cryosurgery involves freezing off the warts. This procedure needs to be performed in a doctor?s clinic. Electrocautery is procedurally directly opposed to cryosurgery and involves burning off the warts. Another method that is used for the treatment of genital warts is to use trichloroacetic acid to wear down the wart tissue.

Laser surgery is adopted for treatment of genital warts that are larger in size. This kind of surgical removal of genital warts will need the services of a trained specialist. This method is one of the most expensive ones for treatment of genital warts.

Some people opt for natural cures for treatment of genital warts. At times these cures do prove to be effective, but there are no guarantees that they will work every time. Certain home remedies are also very popular and are used by many.

The best treatment for genital warts can be provided only by a licensed medical practitioner and patients would be well advised to follow medical directions, if any, to minimize the chances of a relapse.

The issue of genital warts is one of serious importance, especially considering that they are considered as being one of the most commonly spread sexually transmitted diseases in the world. They are incredibly contagious, and the worst part of all is that many people do not even realize that they have the disease until it is too late and they have already spread it to another partner.

What are They?

Genital warts are caused by a virus known as HPV. There are actually over 100 different strands of this virus presently known of in the world, however only a few strands in particular actually end up causing genital warts.

They may be small, flat flesh-colored bumps that appear on and around the genital area, and even sometimes on the mouth, if one has come in contact orally with an infected person.

In men, for the most part genital warts will tend to grow on the shaft of the penis or around the anus, whereas in women they usually appear on the inside walls of the vagina and on the vulva. They may vary in size and some are actually so small that you may not even notice they are there at all.

Treatment

There are a few different methods of treatment that are commonly used for genital warts today, and genital wart cream is one of the most popular of all these methods. Genital wart cream is available in a variety of brands, Aldara being the most recognizable.

This particular genital wart cream is typically applied about three times a week, usually right before you go to sleep, so that it can remain on the skin for about 8 hours. It basically works by stimulating the body’s own immune system to destroy the warts, and on average, women need about 8 weeks or so of treatment while men require a bit more, usually around 12 weeks.

This genital wart cream is considered as being extremely effective, and not only that but it is also one of the least uncomfortable and painful treatment methods available. The main disadvantage to this and other genital wart cream for that matter is that there are often reports of it causing itching, redness, and soreness, and a lot of people need to be taken off of it after only a few weeks.

The most important thing of all is that if you ever notice any growths of any kind around your genital or mouth area that you notify your doctor at once so that they can determine whether it is genital warts or not, and either way find proper treatment for you.