By Dr. Peter Klapper Ph.D.
What is Human Papillomavirus? The Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is the cause of warts. HPV is a viral infection of the skin. There are over 165 identified strains of HPV which cause warts such as genital warts, plantar warts and common warts appearing on the body. These frequently appear as cauliflower growths on the skin. Warts are highly contagious and spread through skin-to-skin contact.
The human papillomavirus infects nearly 20 million people in the United States alone during any given year. There is no cure for the actual virus but there are various treatment options for the symptoms that it produces.
The most common warts being plantar warts which are warts on the feet, palmar warts which are warts on hands, filiform warts which can appear as a stalk on your face, or periungual warts which are warts under your fingernails and toenails.
Of the 20 million infected American every year, approximately 1/3 (or 30 out of every 100) experience venereal warts, otherwise known as genital warts. This article will talk about some of the HPV treatment options which show you how to get rid of the symptoms of HPV, though the virus itself has no cure, that are available today.
Treatment Options:
HPV treatment focuses more on the symptoms since the virus itself is incurable. The goal of the medical professionals is to avoid HPV-related cancers such as cervical in females or the more uncommon cancers that appear in men, though these are hard to detect, and include penile cancer, anal cancer, as well as cancers in the head and/or neck. If you test positive for HPV, you may or may not necessarily need to receive treatment, but your doctor will want to monitor you closely to watch out for signs of any of these HPV-related cancers.
Vaccines:
The most common HPV treatment is vaccines. These are given to males and females as early as their preteens, or tweens, just before they hit puberty and all the way to age 26 for females and 21 for the males. The vaccine is also highly recommended for gay men and bisexual men. Also, these vaccines are given in shot form three times over a six-month period.
Medical Procedures:
Other HPV symptom treatment options include the classic freezing using liquid nitrogen in cryotherapy, as well as Loop Electrosurgical Excision Procedure (LEEP). This latter method involves a special wire loop that removes any abnormal cells which are found in a woman. Women who are suspected as having HPV also undergo frequent Pap tests which help in the prevention of cervical cancer. The females also have a special magnifying device known as a colposcopy which doctors use to look closely at the vulva, cervix, and the vagina.
For those women who are either pregnant or are attempting to conceive, you are encouraged to consult with your doctor prior to starting any of the treatment options. Since these various forms of HPV treatment can drastically affect childbirth, some doctors put off the treatment until after the delivery of the newborn.
Natural:
As we are in the early years of the 21st century, the most common up and coming treatment methods are those that are organic in nature. Forces of Nature has a natural wart treatment that is 100% USDA Certified Organic, Non-GMO Project Verified, Leaping Bunny Certified. This product also contains no chemicals or toxic acids and works to penetrate deep into the skin tissue to reach those stubborn roots. Wart Control Extra Strength eliminates a variety of warts from plantar, filiform, flat, etc.
Several consumers who purchase this product report that they applied this product 1-2 times per day (out of the directed 3x per day) and saw wart removal by as much as 50% or more within two weeks.
