Why can genital warts come back after being treated?

There are many cases where patients who have treated genital warts report the disease recurred. Generally, the disease returns after two to three months of treatment or in some cases will return after one year of treatment. How did it happen?

Causes of genital warts

To find out why genital warts come back, you must first find out the cause.

Genital warts are a sexually transmitted infection that consists of small, red or skin-colored bumps that grow around your genitals. Usually this disease occurs due to infection with certain types of human papillomavirus (HPV), namely HPV 6 and 11. HPV itself is a collection of viruses that can cause genital warts and certain types of cancer.

Usually, this virus is transmitted through oral, vaginal, and anal sex. Sometimes, HPV can be transmitted when a mother infected with HPV gives birth to her baby into the world. This virus usually causes genital or respiratory system infections in babies.

Prevention of HPV can be done by vaccinating before a person is sexually active. This is because HPV itself is transmitted through sexual contact. Therefore, doctors recommend that immunizations be given from the time a child is 10 years old.

Why do genital warts come back after being treated?

The main question that many people ask is why genital warts can recur, aka recur even though they have been treated? The answer is because the treatment of this disease is only to remove the warts, not to eradicate the HPV virus which is the cause of its appearance. Genital warts are only one of the HPV infections that lead to chronic infections and are lifelong.

As already explained, genital warts are treatable, but infectiousHPV cannot be cured. After treatment, you may be free from this disease. However, HPV is still in your body and can "live" again, causing the dark warts to recur.

Treatment of disease in foreign terms is called genital warts it does not remove the HPV lodged in your body. So that the body is still possible to spread the infection. Warts that come back after being treated are usually not treated again unless you want to get treatment again. For the second treatment, doctors will usually choose a different type of treatment than before.

Then, should genital warts be treated if you have a risk of recurrence?

Genital warts do not always need treatment and can go away on their own. However, untreated genital warts also have the possibility to persist, even increase in size and number. Therefore, treating this disease is important to:

Speed up the healing process.
Clean the genital area from warts.
Reduces symptoms such as pain, itching and irritation.
Reducing the risk of spreading the virus.
Reducing the possibility of a more violent outbreak.

For this reason, if you have this disease, it is better to continue treatment even though the risk of genital warts recurrence is still there. At the very least, you have made efforts to get rid of them temporarily and reduce the risk of their severity.

Talk with your partner about the risk of disease that may return. In addition, you also need to consult a doctor to help you get the best treatment for the disease you are suffering from.