Identifying Genital Warts

If one sees a wart on the body, can this wart be a genital wart? One can identify a genital wart if one already knows how genital warts look like. One may take a closer look at pictures of genital warts to have a solid idea of the appearance of genital warts. But of course, a picture of genital warts is not exactly something that one carries around, so that one can consult it if one finds a wart on the body. This is because no one excitedly anticipates having warts of any kind.

Thus, one must be aware of the significant differences of various types of warts. From such stock knowledge, one may easily identify genitals warts. But since there are several types of warts, how does one know what type of wart has infected the skin? And how does one know that one is already having genital warts? The type of wart will depend on two things: where the wart is located, and how the warts look like. That is, a wart which is not raised is called a flat wart. And a wart which is located around the nail bed is called a nail wart.

Obviously, genital warts are those warts that are found on or around the genitals. That is genital warts may grow on the tip and/or shaft of the penis, on the scrotum, around the walls of the vagina, right on the vulva, and inside the cervix. There are also cases in which the genital warts may spread towards the anus, surrounding this part of the anatomy.

Yet, genital warts are not limited to the genital area. That is, there are medical cases where genital warts have infected the area around and on the mouth, and the area of the throat. Such cases occur when people engage in oral sex with partners who have genital warts. The occurrence of genital warts in areas other than the genitals means that one should also know how genital warts look like.

Genital warts are not flat lesions. Flat lesions on the genitals cannot be genital warts. But raised warts can be genital warts. Most pictures of genital warts show that genital warts look like an accumulation of swelled patches. Each patch is roughly 2 millimeters in diameter. But such patches can grow alarmingly bigger especially when infection has spread to the anal area. The swelled patches aggregate alongside each other, forming a “colony”. These clusters of abnormal growth are soft, smooth, and moist. Usually, the color of genital warts is similar to the person’s flesh.

Looking closely at the genital warts pictures, one will notice that genital warts have a more defined boundary of each other, when compared to the rough plantar or nail warts. But the boundaries of genital warts are not as distinct as the flat warts.

How genital warts look like, however, can change when there is a further infection. That is, viruses and bacteria can worsen the genital warts, changing the color from flesh to angry red. Infected genital warts will be painful to touch and will be emitting a strong unwelcome smell.