When it comes to your sexual and reproductive health, it is not just erectile dysfunction or impotence that you should be on the lookout for. Are you 100 percent that your safe from sexually transmitted diseases (STDs)? These contagious diseases are transmitted through sexual contact with an infected individual, and can also be spread by contact with infected blood and body fluids. There are ways to reduce or eliminate your chance of contacting an STD, including wearing a condom.
While there is a chance that you will exhibit no symptoms once you become infected, you may notice a number of common visual symptoms of STD exposure. Here are three of these visual signs:
- Genital sores – These can signal STDs. Genital warts are considered the most common viral STD, with the human papillomavirus virus (HPV) causing the condylomata or wart-like fleshy tumors protruding from your skin. From the time of the initial exposure, the viruses that cause this infection may stay dormant for three years.
Also causing genital sores is the herpes simplex virus, which can also lie formant until an underlying condition – such as stress, fever, or a less-than-optimal immune system – aggravates it. Appearing as small blisters are herpes vesicular outbreaks, which can rupture without warning and cause painful open sores on the surface of your skin.
In women, on the other hand, the odorous, white discharge of vaginosis can cause inflammation of your penis and lead to sores if left untreated. Vaginosis is a vaginal infection that also needs medical attention.
- Genital ulcers – Also known as chancre, ulcers occur when you contract an STD known as syphilis from an infected person. The visual symptoms of syphilis on the first stage start with Treponema pallidum spirochetes, which are microscopic spiral bacteria, clearly manifesting under your skin. Three to 90 days after the spirochetes show up, the skin rises at the entry site of bacteria. Painless ulcers form at the entry site eventually. If left untreated, the spirochetes remain active after the chancre resolves.
- Penile discharge – It is a sign of a form of STD if you have unusual discharge. For example, gonorrhea patients may develop urethritis, a secondary infection, which is sometimes the first visual sign of an STD. The symptom of this secondary infection is a yellow urethral discharge from your penis. Additionally, the first signs of Chlamydia include clear or cloudy discharge from your genitals.
It is a must to seek appropriate medical treatment once you see these symptoms or other unusual signs in your genital area. Your doctor will decide on the best course of treatment in your specific case. You may have to abstain from sexual activity until the infection is completely resolved.
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