Perianal warts

Dear Ask The Doctor: I suffered from peri-anal warts for 15 months. No amount of medicines,alopathic or homoeopathic helped at all. So finally I had them removed surgically. My question is, what are the chances of them coming back and what can I do from preventing them from coming back? The past 15 months have been a nightmare for me, and has taken its toll on me mentally as well. Kindly help.

Dear Maanav: The overall recurrence rate for perianal warts is very high, somewhere between 40-65%. You will need vigilant follow up by your surgeon to identify any evidence of recurrence early and treat it appropriately. Perianal warts are usually acquired by sexual transmission of the human papilloma virus (HPV), though this is not always the case. Prevention is achieved by treatment of yourself and your partner for possible infection with this virus.