Genital Warts and HPV: The Types That Cause Warts Are Not the Types That Cause Cancer

The short answer

If you have found warts in the genital or anal area, you have almost certainly read that HPV causes cervical cancer, and you are frightened.

Here is the thing that page did not tell you. HPV is a large family of viruses, and the members behave very differently. Types 6 and 11 cause around nine in ten genital warts, and they carry a low cancer risk. Types 16 and 18 cause around seven in ten cervical cancers, and they do not usually cause warts you can see.

So finding warts is not finding cancer, and it is not a sign that cancer is coming. It means you have met one of the low-risk members of the family.

That is not a reason to ignore it. It is a reason to have it looked at calmly rather than in a panic.

Treatment works, and it is straightforward. What treatment does is remove the warts. Clearing the virus itself is your immune system's job, and it usually manages it.

Gynaecology consultations at All Is Well Medical Centre, Vasant Kunj — ₹1,000. Monday to Saturday, 10 AM to 7 PM. Appointments only — call 8800844793.

What HPV actually is

Human papillomavirus is not one virus. It is a family of more than a hundred related types, and they are among the most common infections there are.

Most sexually active adults meet HPV at some point. The great majority never know: no symptoms, nothing visible, and the immune system clears it within a year or two.

The types are usually sorted into two groups.

Low-risk types — mainly 6 and 11 — can cause warts on the skin of the genital and anal area. They very rarely cause cancer.

High-risk types — mainly 16 and 18, along with a handful of others — do not usually cause anything you can see. They can, in a minority of people, cause cell changes that over ten to twenty years may become cancer.

The two groups do different things. Having one does not mean you have the other.

It is possible to have both at once, because exposure to one type does not protect against another. That is worth knowing, and it is the reason screening still matters even when the visible problem is warts. But it is not the same as the warts turning into cancer, which is not what happens.

What genital warts look like

They vary more than people expect, which is part of why they cause such uncertainty.

They may be small and flat, or raised and slightly rough. Some are single; more often there are several. They can be skin-coloured, paler, or darker than the surrounding skin. A cluster is sometimes described as looking like a small cauliflower, though many look nothing like that.

In women they can appear on the vulva, inside the vagina, on the cervix, or around the anus. In men, on the penis, the scrotum, or around the anus. Anal warts do not mean anal intercourse has taken place — the skin in that whole area is continuous and the virus spreads across it.

They usually do not hurt. Some itch, some bleed a little if caught, and some cause no sensation at all and are noticed only by chance.

They can appear weeks, months or years after exposure. This is the part that causes the most distress in relationships, and it is worth stating clearly: you cannot use the appearance of warts to work out when — or from whom — the infection came. The virus can sit quietly for a very long time. Warts appearing now do not indicate anything about recent behaviour, yours or anyone else's.

What treatment involves

Warts are treated, and treated successfully. What varies is the method, and that depends on where they are, how many there are, and how large.

Treatments applied to the skin. Preparations put on the warts, sometimes at the clinic and sometimes at home over several weeks.

Freezing. The warts are frozen, usually over more than one visit. Quick, and done in the clinic.

Cautery or removal. Burning or cutting them away, under local anaesthetic, generally for larger or stubborn ones.

Which is right for you is an examination-and-conversation decision, not something to choose from a page. Warts inside the vagina, on the cervix, or inside the anal canal need examining properly and are handled differently from those on the outside.

The expectation worth setting now

Treatment removes the warts. It does not remove the virus.

Your immune system does that, and in most people it does, over months to a couple of years. Until it has, warts can come back — and if they do, that is not a treatment failure and it is not something you did wrong. It is the ordinary course of the thing.

Knowing that in advance saves a great deal of unnecessary distress at the six-week mark.

What NOT to do

Do not use wart treatments bought for hands or feet. The skin in the genital area is far more delicate, and preparations meant for a verruca can cause serious burns and scarring there. This is the single most common self-inflicted harm we see with this.

Do not try to cut, burn or scrape them off. For the same reason, and because it spreads them.

Do not assume the diagnosis. Several other things look similar — some entirely harmless, some not, and a few that need quite different treatment. A doctor confirming what it actually is takes a few minutes, and going on an internet image search is not the same thing.

Screening still matters

If you are a woman, being diagnosed with genital warts does not change your cervical screening schedule — but it is a good moment to check you are up to date with it.

Screening looks for the cell changes caused by the high-risk types, which is a separate question from the warts you can see. Both can be true, neither predicts the other, and the only way to know about the high-risk ones is to test.

Telling a partner

This is the part people dread most, and there is no version of it that is comfortable.

Two things that may help, and both are true.

HPV is not evidence of recent infidelity. The virus can lie dormant for years. Warts appearing now say nothing about when it was acquired.

Most adults have met HPV. A current partner may well already carry the same type without ever having had a symptom.

There is no requirement to trace anyone. A partner who has visible warts should be seen. A partner who has none does not need treatment, though a woman partner should be up to date with cervical screening — as she should be regardless.

Does the vaccine help now?

Partly, and it is worth understanding which part.

The vaccine does not treat an infection you already have. It cannot clear existing warts and it will not make them go faster.

It does still protect against the types you have not met. Someone with type 6 remains unprotected against 16 and 18, and vaccination guards against those. Whether that is worth it depends on your age and situation, and it is a conversation to have rather than a rule to apply.

We have written separately about [the HPV vaccine, what the free government programme covers, and what it costs privately].

When to be seen sooner

Book promptly rather than waiting if:

• The warts are growing quickly, bleeding, or painful

• There is bleeding between periods or after intercourse

• There is a sore or ulcer rather than a wart

• You are pregnant — warts can enlarge in pregnancy and management is different

• Your immunity is reduced for any reason

• You are simply not sure what you are looking at

That last one is a perfectly good reason on its own. Uncertainty about this is miserable, and it is quickly resolved.

Coming in

You will be examined privately. It takes a few minutes. Nobody in the waiting room is told why you are there, and the reason for a visit is never discussed at the front desk.

All Is Well Medical Centre Shop no. 1, Central Market, Sector B Rd, opposite Vasant Square Mall, Masoodpur, Sector B, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi 110070

Gynaecology consultation ₹1,000. Monday to Saturday, 10 AM to 7 PM. Appointments only — please call 8800844793 or book online before you come.

This article is general information and not a substitute for being examined. Several conditions resemble genital warts and the difference matters, so please have it looked at rather than treated on the basis of a web page.

Reviewed by Dr. Meghana Lal, MBBS, DNB (Obstetrics & Gynaecology), DGO — All Is Well Medical Centre, Vasant Kunj. Last reviewed: 10 September, 2026

Contact

Call 8800844793. Home visits 6 am to midnight.

Phone

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