Hello and thanks for your help in advance,

My question surrounds the following: I had a wart appear a few days ago that was pretty noticeable, pinkish red, slightly raised, and rough. Sometimes they aren't that noticeable. I had it treated, but then later that day I noticed what seemed to be a cluster of warts developing.

What I'm particularly concerned about is that this cluster of warts is a lot less noticeable. Of the cluster, there appears to be about 2 warts that are noticeable, like slightly darker flesh colored, and they are not raised. However, between these two warts, there is a connecting patch of skin that is shiny and looks kind of rough when light is pointed on it. There are also a couple of other defined small areas that are shiny and rough when I shine light on it. The two warts that I can actually see (as in they have a darker color than the surrounding skin) are similarly shiny when light is on them, the difference is that with these other shiny areas I can't really see anything there except when light is shined on it.

My worry is that since some of these areas don't appear to be infected except when I shine light on them and then they appear like there are warts, does that mean they are high risk or that they are simply flat warts that are hard to see and/or they are new so they are still developing and haven't really appeared yet?

My understanding was that warts do not cause cancer and that the kind of hpv that causes cancer is literally invisible to the naked eye, whether you shine a light on it or not. But then I read something that high risk hpv is not invisible, but only nearly invisible (I don't know if this was accurate, but it's what I read). A couple of these new ones in the cluster sort of seem nearly invisible in that I can only really see something when I shine a light on it. Does that mean these are high risk?

I felt more reassured when I thought I just had low risk warts (at least that I know of). I've become shaky thinking that some of these shiny spots are really high risk. Again, perhaps they are just knew and so will turn red and pop up soon, but for now there are areas that don't really appear to have any wart on them, but when I shine a light, it is clear that there is a defined shiny patch. Can I still generally assume these areas are low risk or should I be more concerned?

Thanks for your help again, sorry if this post was a little lengthy and repetitive.

It is very unusual that a male would have visible lesions develop due to "high risk" HPV (it's actually pretty uncommon for a woman to have such lesions develop). The fact you can only see the warts in question when a light is shined directly on the area doesn't tell you anything other than the lesions are very small, which is not uncommon with warts.

The only way to get this sorted out, of course, is to have a health care provider evaluate the area, which they can usually do accurately with a visual inspection. Taking a biopsy is usually only reserved for cases where the lesions seems to have some uncharacteristic properties, or if the diagnosis is just really unclear.

Sorry I can't tell you more but again, "high risk" HPV is rarely any sort of issue for men and even when pre-cancers of the penile skin are diagnosed, it's usually classified as something called Bowen's Disease (and is often treated as an out-patient condition!).

Keep us posted, if you don't mind.

Best,
Fredo

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ASHA Moderator

Thanks, Fredo.

I went to the Dr. today. He wasn't sure they were anything at all, but just in case he treated them. He wasn't concerned about them being any big deal at all. So, it's probably all OK. Thanks again.

That's good to hear! Thanks for the update.

Fredo

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ASHA Moderator