HPV-Warts & Genital Warts Treatment in Malaysia

Posted by MichealH Alexander on December 28th, 2019

Genital wart treatment in Malaysia - Frequently I encounter patients who are concerned with small, unsightly bumps that appear on various parts of the body. It’s usually a case of them noticing something that looks like skin growing from the body over a few months but without causing them significant duress. More often than not, these turn out to be warts.

What are genital warts?

To put it simply, warts are benign tumours often caused by infection with Human papillomavirus (HPV). As mentioned before, they can appear virtually anywhere and generally do not cause many problems.

The appearance of warts can vary, ranging from a slightly raised bump to a very conspicuous looking lumpy skin tag. Most of the time, warts are a cosmetic concern, unless their location causes mechanical problems. An example of this is plantar warts (warts on the heel of the foot) that make it difficult to walk.

Warts can sometimes just disappear after a period of time and have been seen to often resolve spontaneously in otherwise healthy patients, which brings us to the question, why see a doctor for this?

Why see a doctor for genital warts treatment?

The primary reason to see a doctor when you have skin lumps and bumps is to determine what it is exactly. In this day and age of googling your symptoms, it’s easy to underestimate a medical condition or scare yourself silly with an overdiagnosis. Why put yourself through all that unnecessary anxiety when you can see a doctor who will help identify once and for all what is it you have? In addition to that, a doctor can discuss your treatment options depending on the diagnosis.

In the event you are absolutely sure you have warts, it’s still advisable to see a doctor instead of treating it at home. I’ve heard of a myriad of home remedies like peeling off warts with duct tape or scraping it off with a pumice stone. Such “treatments” are risky as there is always a high possibility of bleeding and re-infection. At the doctor's, sterility and care will be taken to make sure the procedure is done as safely as possible.

Why see a doctor at all if it can go away by itself?

The fact of the matter is, spontaneous resolution may take months to years, in interim warts can grow and spread, causing pain and emotional distress due to their appearance.

The good news is, while the virus that causes warts cannot be eradicated, warts themselves can be removed with various methods.

I’ll go on to explain a few methods I use here for the treatment/removal of warts. We’ll cover radiofrequency therapy, acid film painting, using creams at home as well as surgical excision. As with previous articles on the subject matter, please do not discount the importance of the HPV vaccination in all people aged 9 to 45.

What are the Various Warts & Genital Wart Treatments in Malaysia?

Radiofrequency (RF)

Basically, RF is a removal technique employed here where we use radio waves to cut the skin. We also use a thermal (heat) component to lightly burn the skin around the cutting point to stop bleeding as well.

This keeps the surgery site clean and reduces the risk of infection. We also do not have to bring a knife/scalpel to your skin when we’re doing the removal. When we reduce the risk of bleeding, overall the process is cleaner, safer and neater as well.

You will be left with a raw area of skin at the site of the removal though. This would look like a typical abrasion (fall/scrape) wound. This can take about one week to ten days to heal up but once it does, and the scabs fall off; the underlying skin will be healthy and nearly normal looking.

There is minimal downtime to RF surgery removal of warts. It is a process that is typically done under local anaesthesia (where we inject numbing agents into the skin around the part that needs to be removed). We will also apply a generous amount of numbing cream to the area.

Once that has absorbed, we will proceed with the RF removal procedure. I like to do this under a magnifying lamp to see the extent of bumps or tissues that need to be removed.

The entire process can take a few minutes or longer depending on the amount and location of gential warts that need to be removed.

Once this is done, we’ll snip the ends of the Genital Warts Malaysia, try our best to make sure the skin is left nice and flat and assess the situation. If necessary, we’ll prescribe you a course of painkillers and/or antibiotics to prevent a secondary infection to the area.

At home, we’d expect that you keep the area clean and dry and apply an antibiotic or soothing cream on the surgical site at least twice a day. We expect that within a week or so after the procedure, the scabs will start to form on the skin and once that has completely dried up, it will fall off revealing new, non warty skin beneath it.

In about two weeks or sometimes longer than that, it should look like there is a minimal scar but with no warts in the area.

We’d typically re-assess the situation within a month and review progress of the skin and the area around it. If necessary, we can do a revision surgery to get the area looking more prim and proper. Otherwise, we’ll let that be that and review this only if there is a further warty growth or something similar in the area.

Acid Film Painting (Duo/Podofilm)

This is an acid gel treatment that we use in the clinic. There are different names to the medications but it typically contains two different acid groups (salicylic and lactic acid) to kill the wart’s growth.

It does this by getting absorbed into the wart and breaking the skin from the inside out. This is a procedure usually only done in the clinic setting and rarely advised at home. The acid itself is abrasive and must be applied on with care so as to not affect the surrounding skin.

This procedure is usually done ad-hoc and takes just minutes. First, the area is cleaned and dried then a layer of the acid is applied via a brush film. Once the acid gets absorbed into the skin, the wart will turn a pearly white colour. This is where it might start to get uncomfortable for the patient. There can be a burning/tingling sensation that might be unsettling.

These sensations usually last between 10-30 minutes. Once it has settled down, there is usually no sequelae of this.

The area will remain white for a few days (even with regular showers). Once the white part has completely dried up, you’ll notice the wart itself is either smaller or falling off. If it is falling off, you may help the process along by applying firm but gentle pressure on it.

If the wart has reduced in size but is still present, you can always come back to the clinic to have a repeat procedure done. We typically advise multiple sessions for this in similar scenarios. You may need one, or sometimes multiple sessions depending on the extent of the warty growths seen.

As with most abrasive treatment options, once the wart has been treated (ie acid applied onto it), it is recommended that you care for the area with soothing creams or moisturisers so as to not injure the surrounding skin.

There are home remedies for this offered in pharmacies and medicinal stores but we usually do not recommend this until we assess the situation and the product you intend to use.

Please take caution that this medicational therapy works by effectively killing skin cells and thus great care should be taken into maintaining the health of the surrounding skin.

People with diabetes, poor blood circulation such as peripheral vascular disease, or nerve damage to the hands or feet should only use such treatment under a doctor's supervision.

Warts that are larger than 5cm² may require a different treatment.

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MichealH Alexander

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MichealH Alexander
Joined: September 11th, 2019
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