Real People Stories – Lilia

Dealing with Genital Warts on the Clitoris: My Experience and Seeking Advice. The first and worst part is having genital warts on my actual clitoris. They are mostly tucked away under the clitoral hood until you pull it back, or I get aroused, and then it’s like a clitoral Cthulhu. This was my first STD outbreak test. I didn’t even know my test was HPV-positive. And I am also going through a divorce that I did not want, so even in this year of not-great months, this one takes the cake.

I didn’t even know you could get HPV genital warts on the clit, much like how hair doesn’t grow on some parts of the body. Online studies are sparse and only mention the clit as an afterthought. I’m getting all sorts of education here.

Navigating Treatment and Emotions

Humour aside, Planned Parenthood and the dermatologist I saw were sympathetic but grim when it came to STD treatment. I just started on Imiquimod 5% (Aldara), and I am not looking forward to my clitoris scabbing and blistering for weeks. The thought of somehow trying to get under my clitoral hood to freeze or shave off these HPV things is—well, honestly, I’m crying right now, and it’s not the first time. I am so scared of permanent nerve damage and losing my ability to orgasm, which is the only way my body can. Even freezing, burning, lasering, or shaving them off doesn’t prevent them from returning! So, I could be risking so much for nothing. 

I’m also without insurance because of the divorce, so whatever treatment plan I go with is out of pocket, as if this situation wasn’t already difficult enough to navigate. My current partner is being incredibly loving and supportive, but I hate my body and want nothing to do with it. Masturbation and sex are two of my primary stress relievers, but my body’s horror when I think about these genital growths of HPV has completely shut that down. I generally try not to think about sex as just penis-in-vagina activity, but I can’t even use a vibrator right now without breaking down.

Seeking Advice and Support

Has anyone else been so unlucky as to get this particular placement of warts? What test and treatment did you go with, and how was your experience? I have seen many people say they’d get warts frozen off a dozen times over using Aldara, and I don’t think any of theirs were in such a bad area imaginable. I have no good options as far as I can tell, and while I have a couple of people I’ve told about it, all of them are as clueless and helpless as I am.

Suppose you need to gain the experience to share. In that case, I am currently accepting winces of sympathy, “that’s rough, buddy”s, and countercurses for whoever I so mortally offended as to inflict this upon me. Thoughts and prayers, friends.

Jeanne

I got an HPV test. Everyone gets it!

Jeanne, 35 years old, saw all her friends catch the papillomavirus around her before being infected in her turn. She tells :

A wart on the clitoris

“From December to April, I slept with five boys without a condom. In my head, I knew I had to get an STD check-up.

And one day in May, while I was waxing my bikini line, I discovered that I had a wart on my clitoris. I was at the STD Test Gynaecologist a few weeks earlier to get a smear; I don’t know if the wart was already there or if she could have seen it…

I consulted a general practitioner, who prescribed a battery of tests. He was convinced it was an STD but didn’t know which one. I then went back to see my gynaecologist. For her, there was no doubt it was HPV.

It came as a shock to me; I was convinced that it only happened to other people. Around me, it’s huge, seven friends have caught it, with more or less serious consequences. Some had warts like me; another had to have cervical surgery for precancerous lesions.

And again, not everyone tells everything! My infection-affected friends are very different, between those who have had dozens of partners and those who have only slept with one or two guys in their entire life, which means that the virus circulates a lot.

Will I have it for life?

The gynaecologist prescribed I apply a cream for a month, and if it doesn’t go away, I should have a laser session. I’m very scared, given the location of the wart.

The doctor warned me:

‘The condom does not provide complete protection. The virus is everywhere, on the skin and pubic hair.’

I ask myself lots of questions: for how long should we avoid intercourse? Will I have it for life? Will I infect someone?

It’s quite obscure. My gynaecologist just told me:

‘Avoid intercourse a little.’

But what does ‘a little’ mean? I feel like there’s not much we can do about this infection. To one of my friends, the doctor flatly advised abstinence.

Everyone has it, and everyone sleeps with everyone again!

I feel punished

At first, it stressed me out a lot. Every night when I went to bed, I only thought about that. Since then, I have systematically checked with my magnifying mirror to see if the wart is still there. It has become an obsession.

I go online every day to get information. And I learned a lot more from my friends than from the doctors.

I wondered if I should tell the boys I had slept with recently. Finally, I just talked about it with the one I’m closest to; I found it more honest, even if it doesn’t change anything for him since he doesn’t have warts. Even if he had the virus, there is no treatment. He didn’t even know it existed!

When I had just discovered that I had HPV, a nice guy contacted me on Tinder. I preferred not to follow up. I feel punished until this wart goes away.