I have had a
bump on my labia for a couple of weeks. It hasn't spread or anything, but it
itches. Is it worth a trip to the doctor?
Absolutely. It sounds like you
haven't looked down there with a mirror to see what's going on. But what you
have sounds very much like genital warts. They are painless, but they can
itch. They usually look like the kinds of warts you find elsewhere on your
body--raised, white or pale, with a sort of scaly surface. They are sexually
transmitted, so you should make sure that your sex partner is treated also,
by a dermatologist, if he develops warts. And, of course, make sure your
partner uses a condom during sex to keep from spreading the warts.
Do you test
for sexually transmitted diseases during a regular physical?
I have a deal with my lab where
they test all of my patients for syphilis as a matter of course. There's no
way of diagnosing it in its first and second stages other than a blood
test--it doesn't have any visible symptoms. And by the third stage, when you
can actually see symptoms, you may have suffered irreparable damage. This
blood test is invaluable.
Symptoms of certain STDs are
visible when you do the Pap smear. If I see anything that looks suspicious in
the vagina or on the cervix during the exam, I will test for it. If a patient
tells me she thinks she's been exposed to something, I'll test for that as
well, even if there are no visible symptoms.
Some of these tests are done
with the same swabs and brooms you take the Pap test with, and sent along
with the Pap test to the lab for evaluation. Others require blood tests,
which I can do at the same time I am taking blood for other tests.
The only test a patient
specifically has to request before I can do it is the test for AIDS.