How soon after I get my genital warts removed can I have sex again?

By Attia @ Planned Parenthood | Jan. 24, 2020, 7:12 p.m.

After genital warts disappeared with treatment about 6 months ago is it okay to start being sexually active with future partners?

You can start having sex again as soon as you’re fully healed and it feels comfortable to you.

There are a number of ways to treat genital warts: Your nurse or doctor may put chemicals on your warts to make them go away or stop growing, give you a prescription for a cream that you’ll put on the warts yourself for several weeks, freeze the warts off (cryotherapy), burn off the warts using an electric current, or remove the warts with a knife or wire and electricity (LEEP).

Genital warts are caused by certain types of human papillomavirus (HPV). Your treatment should remove your warts and lower your chances of passing HPV to anyone else. Genital warts can be treated, but they can’t be cured. You’re removing the warts, but you’ll still have the virus that causes them. The virus may go away at some point on its own, but there’s no way to know for sure. Some people will get warts again and others won’t.

Using protection — like condoms and dental dams — when you have sex helps to lower your risk of getting any STD. And while getting the HPV vaccine won’t make your genital warts go away if you’ve already had them in the past, it can protect you from getting other types of HPV.

Note: Before you have sex, be sure to let your partner know that you have HPV, and there’s a possibility that new genital warts will show up. Genital warts are treatable and aren’t dangerous, but even if warts aren’t present you can still pass the virus.

Tags: HPV