Apple Cider Vinegar for Genital Warts

Yes If anyone could answer this it would be of much help!

My question is: I followed the advise of putting apple cider vinegar directly on my genital sore caused, with a cotton ball damped with it in the 2nd or 3rd day after the sore appeared. But, it first hurt a lot and then it change its color to red, like blood. Is it normal? is it okay, or do I have to stop immediately? Can I continue more days with this process and ignore it as something normal. Please let me know so I dont get any worse. thank you!

Replying to A. of Kendall, Florida who posted on 11/29/2009: I'm thinking that you may not be dealing with venereal warts. When you say, "it first hurt a lot and then it change its color to red, like blood", it sounds to me as though you may be dealing with herpes sores. I have had herpes now for over 15 years and I am certain that applying ACV to a herpes sore would hurt indeed. Herpes sores are typically tender and sometimes quite painful in the initial days of outbreaks. Some have a pale red or pink color at onset and can easily become further reddened if irritated. I dare say that applying ACV to a herpes sore would definitely cause irritation.

You can be relatively certain that it is a herpes sore if it disappeared on its own in a week or two. Untreated venereal warts don't do that.

If this is the case, you may wish to have yourself checked out for genital herpes. It is definitely a condition about which you will want to become educated. It's not the end of the world nor your sex life. Education will eliminate a lot of fears and concerns. The bad news is, there's no cure. The good news is, the longer you have it, the less frequently you will experience outbreaks.

But again, it does sound more like a herpes sore that you are dealing with. I've never had a venereal wart hurt "a lot" nor have I ever had one turn blood red. Herpes sores are another matter. Get it checked.

This disease sucks! I've had it since i was in my early 20s. Basically a result of a bad one night stand gone horribly wrong. I'm 36 now and depending on my stress or if i get sick i can most certainly count on an outbreak. My case is relatively mild compared to others. When i get them they are flat and resemble a red sore area. Its very atypical but I've been to my doctor numerous times and each time have all the herpes, syphilis etc etc etc blood work done (even though they did test a tissue sample a few years back and it indicated HPV) each time my blood work always comes back negative for everything.

Doctors are the most unhelpful when dealing with this. Last week I went again for the second time and the last thing my doctor asked while scratching her head not knowing really how to cure this thing. My doctor asked, "Well, is this something you could sort of just live with?" Yeah my ---- looks like it just vacationed on a leper colony and I'm just supposed to be ok with that. grrrrr!

So I tried this ACV thing. Stung like a bitch, yes, but I must say i think its working. The first day I soaked a tiny little pieces of a cotton ball in the ACV , put it over the trouble spots (there's two) and left it to do its thing while watching TV at the end of the day for about 4 or 5 hours.

I also tried to keep it on at night while i slept but ended up taking it off at around 2am or so because it hurt sooooo bad.

The next day it was red and raw and really hurt. To keep my junk from swinging around to much i put a sock on it under my clothes (obviously)...lol...you'll notice a few more winks and smiles from everyone after you do this.

Because it was so raw, the second day i just left it alone. About all i did was apply bacitracin.

On day 3 (today) Ive noticed the spots have turned blackish and have dried out a bit. I'm applying the ACV again for about an hour before work. Depending on how they feel I may do the same again this evening.

Out of ALL the remedies I've tried this is the only treatment that has made a difference. I've had all the creams from the doctor..they dont work. Silver oxide gel...doesn't work....honey, nope just tastes sweet...neosporin doesnt work but will ease irritation. I even convinced the doctor to give me prescription strength antibiotic solution to apply to it...doesn't do a damn thing except keep it from getting infected. Last but not least I was told by my doctor to try yeast infection cream...total waste of time!

I have had them frozen off before as well. I have had good results with that as well but it involves going in and showing off an embarrassing thing to basically a stranger who may or may not judge you...who may or may not be willing to even perform the procedure. (esppecially if you have one on the glans..,they dont like to freeze anything on there)

So anyway I am trying to be hopeful and as long as each day I see improvement they I'll stick with this remedy. Its been 6 weeks and I'm really looking forward to sex again!!!!

I wanted to post an update as a lot of the posts here tend to take a snapshot at either the very beginning or middle of this whole process.

To summarize:

On Day 1 i left the ACV on with a cotton-ball and band-aid for 5-6 hours.

On Day 2 i was really red and raw and in pain from the first application so i gave my self a day off from the ACV. To protect the area from rubbing when moving around, I just put a sock over my penis to add a layer of cushion. I also applied some simple bacitracin.

By Day 3 a rough, dry scab was forming and it was turning dark in color. I decided I would apply for 1 hour in the morning and then again for one hour in the evening before bed. Remember to rinse after each application, else, the healthy skin will get irritated.

On Day 4 I applied another 1 hour treatment in the morning. By now the scab was really hard and flaky. I decided at this point that my body had to do it's part so for the rest of the day i just left it alone. And I mean LEAVE it alone...there's NO overnight cure for this but it doesnt have to take weeks.

It's now Day 5. The scab I could tell was nearing its end. I continued to just leave it alone.

Tonight i felt that all too familiar tingling sensation that told me that the HPV was going to give another go at rearing its ugly head at a completely different spot. Remember now that this is HPV and it likes to hop scotch its way around. It's a frickin' war underneath your skin. I did a spot test on the tingling spot with ACV and lo and behold it turned white. grrrr...ok so this is to be expected.

I decided to do another round of ACV treatments. This time though I only kept it on for only 30 minutes. I immediately showered after, washing with dial antibacterial soap. I pat dry the area and could see the two that I had were like white craters.

I decided to apply some prescription antibiotic solution that my doctor had prescribed to me. It helps keep things from getting infected. Neosporin will probably do the same thing but this stuff is amazing. It penetrates deep down because it's a liquid not a cream.

ANYWAY, as I applied the solution, I lightly rubbed the area and the dead skin/scab just peeled right off revealing light pink skin underneath. There's still a little crater there but its NOT painful or irritated looking. I then applied some bacitracin over it. Hopefully by morning it will be healed.

So those of you looking for someone to quantify how long this treatment goes on for can refer to my experience which by the looks of things seems to be about 5-7days. Thats from the "oh crap why me" moment to the "it looks like it never happened" bliss.

I will post when I am officially clear.

UPDATE:

Day 6 - 8:

The warts have gone and I ceased all use of the ACV. The area that had been treated had a dry scab which had since washed away in the shower but what was left behind were very sore crater-like blisters that required a bit more healing. The blisters were a result of the acidic ACV which essentially burned the effected skin off, leaving behind the under-layer of the epidermis.

There comes a point where you have to let the body start the process of repairing your skin. To help sooth the injured area I took a vitamin E gel-cap, snipped opened the end of the pill and used the vitamin E oil contained inside directly onto the wounded skin. Vitamin E helps the body's ability for tissue repair. I also took the vitamin E supplement orally each day.

To keep the blistered skin from sticking to clothing, I put a small bandaid over it. If you don't do this, the blistered skin, which is weapy, will stick to your clothes and tear open and start bleeding.

This part of the process is probably the hardest because there is really nothing to do but wait for your body to s-l-o-w--l-y start healing itself. The area looked very red and sore at this stage, and improvement is seen is a matter of days verses overnight changes as seen when using the ACV. The important thing is to focus on other things and stay postive!

Day 9

Its now Day 9 and the area around the blisters are returning to their normal color. The blisters themselves have begun to close. Aside from the actual blisters, the area around them still feel a little rough, but the skin is softening a bit every day. I am using a tiny amount of silver gel which you can get at CVS. Its an antimicrobial meant to be used on blisters, burns and cuts.

I'm now just taking the vitamin E orally.

At this point the less junk you apply to the area the better. I'm still covering it with a bandaid and wrapping with a clean sock to immobilize the area but other than that just keep it clean. Shower in the morning and then again in the late afternoon.

If you are able, expose the area to as much air as possible in the privacy of your own home when it's appropriate. The extra air circulation definitely helps.

This whole process is soooo unbelievably slow. This is NOT the overnight cure you're hoping for when you begin this process. As slow as it is however, its the best way i believe to get the effected skin healed and back to normal.

Knock on wood I will be able to post a short update soon which will state that the skin has completely healed.

Day 20

Here's my last post regarding ACV therapy. 11 Days ago I posted what i had hoped would be the cure to my HPV breakout. On a positive note, ACV therapy does work. However, in some cases, the location and size of the wart you are treating is simply too deeply rooted for the ACV to be 100% effective.

When i first started dealing with this 2 months ago (jeeze has it really been that long???) I had initially started off with a single round flat wart on the glans of my penis. I then, after using aldara, got another wart to form just below along the shaft of my penis. I didn't start using ACV therapy until a little over a month into this whole experience.

A couple of days after my last post on Day 11, the secondary wart had cleared completely due to ACV therapy. On day 13, however, the initial wart which was on my glans came back. The skin on it had scabbed over by use of the ACV therapy but the wart tissue was just too deeply rooted and started to regenerate.

Not deterred by this set back, on Day 15, i decided to use ACV in combination with over-the-counter liquid nitro wart freezing products. I found that this method was very effective in destroying the wart tissue... and the wart quickly started to shival and dry up by Day 18. First i would apply the ACV as usual and leave it there for about an hour. I then took the liquid nitrogen and freezed the area. The problem with doing this is the fact that you're applying something to a VERY sensitive area on yourself.

On Day 19 I had already had a doctor's appointment set up in case I was still having issues. The point of the appointment was if i was still experiencing difficulties, i would request that the doctor use cryotherapy.

That's exactly what i ended up doing. Even though the ACV in combination with the over-the-counter wart freeze was very effective, the pain associated with applying the liquid nitro on myself hindered my ability to freeze off ALL the wart tissue.

Also, the over-the-counter wart freeze products' applicator tip is different from what the doctors use. It's made of a round spongy material about a cm or two in diameter so when you apply it, the liquid nitro only really treats the surface area of the skin.

The nitrogen applicator at the doctors office is more like a blunted needle which makes it able to get into the nooks and crannies of the wart tissue.

Long story short, I explained to my doctor what i had been doing. I asked right from the outset that I wanted him to perform cryotherapy to remove any remaining wart tissue. He agreed.

He said that ACV is basically a weaker version of the wart dissolving solutions you can get at the local drug store and that it WAS effective and SAFE to be using. But he also added that the location of the wart on the glans was inhibiting the ACV's effectiveness.

After examining the dried up scab area that i had treated myself he concluded that the wart was pretty much gone except for a "few papules" which i had missed. He performed cryotherapy and in a few short minutes he was finished. He said it would blister and then quickly start healing in 3 days and be completely healed in about a week.

This is my last post. For those of you who are freaking out about this, i feel you but do yourself a favor: Don't deny this for what it is..a wart. If its small then by all means use ACV and it will eventually clear up but it will take a couple weeks.

To make this all go away faster, don't walk, RUN to your phone and call your doctor and make an appointment or go to your local emergency center. Tell them you have a wart on your genitals and you are requesting cryotherapy. You HAVE TO REQUEST cryotherapy otherwise the doctors will just stand there and scratch their heads, prescribe you a cream, therefore wasting your time and money.

Believe me cryotherapy is the way to go if your case is serious. Try the ACV too...who knows things may improve. But the end result is the same.

ACV with cause the same kind of blistering and scabbing as cryotherapy but typically is something that take a few days to apply and then a week to allow to heal.

Cryotherapy on the other hand takes only minutes to apply and a week to heal but only if you let the doctor do it. The over-the-counter stuff just doesn't have the correct kind of applicator to go in deep enough. You'll freeze off the surface but still have infected tissue underneath which will just come back.

This whole thing has been a nightmare. Had i known, i would have demanded cryotherapy a month ago and been done with this once and for all. Live and learn i guess. Hopefully my experience with help steer others in the right direction.

I did the ACV treatment 3 times. Each time I would get a few warts to disappear but some of the others were very stubborn. Most of you will find many more warts than you thought you have after you start treatments. After the skin healed I would see additional bumps and then do it over again. Perhaps I stopped treatment too soon, but, the skin would be so raw and painful that I felt like I had to stop.

Last Saturday I took Compound W Freeze Off and froze the head of the remaining 7 bumps. I then waited until Monday to let the skin covering the wart die off a little and then ACV'd the area. By last night, 2 days, all 7 warts have turned totally black. These are warts that survived 3 previous treatments.

My advice to those with really stubborn warts is to treat the wart with something that will get rid of the top skin covering the wart first in order to kill the roots underneath with ACV. This definitely saved the surrounding skin. Once the buggers are black you can finish the treatment by simply using a Q tip and apply the ACV directly to the warts for a couple days and further save the surrounding skin.

Also, many people have said that you should not peel off the black scabs but I didn't read a reason why. A couple of mine that I peeled off after the first treatment came back. The reason for not peeling them is that this scab forming over the roots is depriving the wart of oxegen. You should leave it alone until it falls off and just put a drop of AVC on the black scab 5-6 times a day for 2-3 days once they turn black. I know that many of you want to get this over in 5 days so that you can be f@#king by the weekend but this is a 7-10 day process so you will have to give up one weekend. I also find that an hour a night in the swimming pool helps heal the surrounding skin.

Hi sunny, I now have g warts and went to the doctor before reading this about ACV.

So now I have scarring from the freezing sessions and i'd like to get rid of this ugly problem also, I see its been a while since you wrote this but can you help me? Did you ever get the scars gone?

Yes the ACV seems to be working!!! I have been using it for 4 days now and they have turned black and seem to have shrunk, I am just waiting for the little scabs to fall off now. What I do is before going to bed I shower, then spray peroxide on the area, then take off the tip of a qtip and dip it in ACV put it on the bumps and cover with a bandaid. In the morning i shower then apply polysporin on the area and this really seems to be working!!! I guess i will update in a few days:) Thank god for forums like this, I now know Im not alone.

*UPDATE* looks like this method works pretty darn good! packing with dry cotton balls between treatments definitely helped keep the area dry and kept any open sores or warts from touching other areas thus preventing any further spread of the issue. i highly recommend the use of dry cotton balls as well as vitamin e oil. my skin healed much faster.

Dude. Prior military. just got out in 08. When I got back from afghanistan I went and saw the dock about what I thought was jock itch, it turned out to be HPV. I've been struggling with it for a year now. I've never tried any herbal remedies, yet. But, the docs on post should give you PODOFILOX. It's going to cause mad irritation, and you might have to use more than they say, but it works... only mine always come back. I recommend you tough up and get them frozen unless they're near the tip. It only stings for a couple seconds and it will ache a little all day, and you might want to scratch it, but they fall off within a week. If i'd never started smoking again, mine would be gone. Also, everyone on here says alcohol makes them worse, but drinking a small amount not very often won't hurt a bit. My outbreaks always come from smoking. So, cut the cancer sticks if you do smoke. Hope that's helpful.

instead of gauze use cotton balls and pack them in and then tape them in place with medical tape. works great, just sucks to pull off if you have hair down there. or if you just have one or two in an area you can cut a q-tip in half, soak with acv, put cotton ball over top and then tape in place. also, unless you have the warts all over you should try to focus on the areas where they are present. acv is pretty much like mild acid and it will eat away at your skin. causing open wounds. which encourages the spread of the warts.