My boyfriend of 2 years just was diagnosed with warts

Are you positive he’s never been with anyone else? Even just dry humping? Because I don’t know how you would get it through the shower, apparently getting it from a towel hasn’t been ruled out, but I wouldn’t think the virus would last all that long on a towel, so he would have to have rubbed his genitals with it soon after someone who was HPV+ did. If he hasn’t been at all intimate with anyone, I really don’t see how he would’ve gotten it, was he sexually abused as a child? I don’t mean to sound skeptical, but it’s really easy to spread it even through dry humping, but if there’s
no skin on skin action then it would have had to have been on an inanimate object he touched with his genitals.

That’s what we thought too… that it just can’t be it since he has not been sexual with anyone but me and vice versa. I’m 150% positive that he hasn’t been with anyone else… I trust him times a million on that one. It makes a little sense that he could have gotton it from a shower or a towel because he’s on an athletic team at his college, and those community showers are sketchy as it is. He got two opinions and the doctors knew about his sexual history (or lack thereof). I’ve looked at his warts and seen pictures and they do look like them I suppose, although the second doctor said it could have been a fungus, but then ruled those out after a cream didn’t work. Thank you for
replying so quickly and for trying to understand my story more.

I have a couple questions for everyone also…

1. We’ve both done research and we just can’t decide if warts can spread orally. One site says yes, one says definately not, one says rarely. And do warts form in the mouth or does the virus turn up on the genitals always?

2. Of all the posts and research I’ve read, everyone seems so keen on simply removing the warts. While I understand that they’re not so nice to look at, and you’d rather them gone, I’ve noticed that no one seems to bring up the “uncurable” factor. My boyfriend hates the warts but what really depresses him is that he’ll have them for the rest of his life. To him the warts are nothing. I suppose I can understand the whole don’t dwell on the fact that they’re never going away thing, but people must have some thoughts on this yes? Am I missing something or not understanding something correctly here?

I’m sorry if I seem uneducated on anything, and if I’ve written too much lol but I would appreciate any advice or answers you may have.

Warts can be spread orally, but this is much less common than genitally. I gave oral to the person that I got HPV from and I have never had a wart in my mouth, but did get them on my genitals. I think warts spreading to the mouth is more common in someone with a compromised immune system, i.e. someone with AIDS. I don’t know anyone healthy that has contracted them in the mouth, but it has happened. Also the virus doesn’t always turn up in the genitals, or anywhere for that matter. It can sit in your system for years with no signs.

I wondered at first what the need was to take off the warts also, if HPV is uncurable. But if warts are left untreated, the outbreak can get worse. I had an outbreak for about 4 months before finally deciding that I wanted them gone, I used aldara, 4 months later not a sign of warts, and 6 months after that I haven’t seen any signs of warts, and I am so happy! They may never come back, just because you have HPV doesn’t mean you’re gonna have warts all over for the rest of your life. I also started taking vitamins, exercising, eating my fruits and veggies, got rid of stress (as much as I could) etc. and I really feel positive that I may never have an outbreak again. For me getting rid of them really helped my accept my siuation, because now everything is normal down there, I just happen to have this virus floating around in my system. Having the warts was this constant reminder that I had an STD, but now that they’re gone I sometimes forget I even have it. Plus (and this doesn’t really apply to you two) since I am ready to date again, it’s a lot easier to say “I have this virus that can cause this, this and this” than to say “I have genital warts”. I feel like someone will be more accepting of the virus than they would be of warts, not to mention that it is
much easier to spread HPV with an active outbreak. So if you two do ever have sex, don’t do it while he has visible warts! You can still get it even if he doesn’t have an outbreak, but the chances of you getting it if your intimate while he has an outbreak skyrocket.

Warts are removed for 3 reasons: 1) to prevent them from spreading, 2) to reduce the viral load so that the immune system can get a handle on HPV, 3) for cosmetic reasons.

The only time they hesitate to remove warts, is when they are on the face. This is because the face has so many meridians in it that they easily spread when being removed.

All warts are contracted by skin to skin contact. The only exception to that rule is HPV strain #1…commonly known as the plantar wart. HPV strain #1 can exhist on any part of the body, but is mainly found on the soles of the feet and on or in between the toes. It also presents itself very differently from any other wart. If you step into a shower that has been used by someone who has a plantar wart then you too are at high risk for catching it. Same goes for walking barefoot on the same floors they do.

While it is possible to catch HPV from sharing towels, it’s very rare and then you wouldn’t just end up with the warts on your genitals. That rare occurance is seen in either babies or the very old or very sick. They don’t have the immune system and their skin is either too delicate or thin to protect them.

Most likely someone is not as virginal as they claim. For a 19 year old guy to claim he most likely got HPV from sharing a towel is pretty far fetched. HPV is too delicate to survive on a towel. They have enough trouble trying to grow it in a petri dish because it is so delicate. However, if you were talking about Herpes, then it wouldn’t be far fetched…HSV is a hardly little virus and doesn’t always require skin to skin contact to catch it.

The bottom line is you can only be sure how many partners you have
had, not how many partners your partner has had no matter what they
claim. People can be funny about disclosing that. Some people just
don’t want to fess up.