Without any treatment, genital warts can clear up, get bigger or stay the same size. What happens to you depends partly on whether you have any other health problems. Genital warts can clear up on their own as your
immune system
The immune system is made up of the parts of the body that are devoted to fighting infection. The body is constantly being threatened by infections from things like bacteria, viruses and parasites. The immune system fights these infections in different ways. At the microscopic level, the immune system uses antibodies and white blood cells, which travel in the blood and target infectious agents, such as bacteria. These microscopic parts of the immune system either kill the infectious agent directly, or take it to other parts of the body, like the spleen, where it can be dealt with. The lymph nodes are another important part of the immune system. Within them, white blood cells filter through the foreign material that has entered the blood, to see if there are any infections. When you have a swollen gland during a cold, this is actually a lymph node that is reacting to the infection. Unfortunately, it is possible for the immune system to become confused and to use its destructive powers to target healthy parts of the body. Diseases that result from this type of situation are called autoimmune diseases.
immune system fights off the virus. But this can take many months or years. 1 If you have a weak immune system (doctors say you are immunocompromised), you might not get rid of the warts so easily. 2 Things that can weaken your immune system include: Having HIV infection (human immunodeficiency virus) or AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) Having a transplant Having cancer or some treatments for cancer. Genital warts often come back several months after you've had treatment to get rid of them. This is more likely to happen if your immune system is weak. There's also a very small risk that genital warts could become cancer if your immune system is not working as well as it should, although this is very rare.
Genital warts and pregnancy
Genital warts sometimes grow larger during pregnancy. 3 This can make passing urine difficult. Or if the warts are inside your vagina, they can cause problems during birth. This is because they can make your vagina narrower and less elastic. 3 There is also a very small chance that if you have genital warts while you're pregnant, your child could get a condition called laryngeal papillomatosis. This is when warts grow inside the voice box (larynx) or the air passages that lead from the nose into the lungs. It's not clear whether a child gets the virus while the mother is pregnant, during birth or after birth.
If genital warts are blocking your vagina or there's a risk that they will bleed a lot during labor, your doctor might advise you to have a cesarean section
A cesarean section is an operation to take a baby out of a mother's womb (uterus). The surgeon makes a cut through her abdomen to take the baby out. You have this if there's a risk that a normal delivery through your vagina would cause harm to you or your baby. cesarean.
But there's no evidence that having a cesarean reduces the risk of passing the virus to your baby. Some treatments for genital warts are safe to use during pregnancy. But creams and other treatments that you put on warts might not work so well during pregnancy. Also, your genital warts might clear up on their own after you have your baby and your immune system recovers. So it might be worth waiting awhile before you decide to have treatment.
Posted by in STD Treatment on June 03, 2009.
