Dermatologists use advanced technology to deal with various skin problems. Among the skin conditions that you can get treatment for are acne, birthmarks, eczema, melasma, psoriasis, scars and even shingles and others. Dermatological services can save you from painful skin conditions and the painless ones you wish to improve on to feel more confident and beautiful.
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What It's Really Like to Live With the STD Everyone Jokes About
“The swab came back positive for genital herpes, type 1," my doctor told me. I couldn't breathe. I started crying. My brain was unable to process what had just happened.
“How!?” I asked through sobs. I knew nothing about herpes—just that it was incurable.
I did everything right when it came to sex. I routinely got tested for STIs. I made my partners use condoms. I had open and—as far as I knew—honest conversations with them about sexual health.
Which made me even more confused about my diagnosis. But then my doctor told me that a standard STI panel doesn't include a herpes test. Many doctors don’t like to test for it unless you have a visible sore they can swab. (Editor's note: Testing is often not recommended due to potential false positives. Read more about herpes here.)
I knew you could contract herpes from unprotected sex, but I didn’t know you could contract it even if a condom is used. I also learned that there are two types. HSV-1 is typically referred to as oral herpes (or cold sores), whereas HSV-2 is called genital herpes because it occurs on the genitals. But there's a catch: You can contract HSV-1 genitally by receiving oral sex from someone with oral herpes like I did or, more rarely, from unprotected vaginal sex.
The diagnosis left me feeling dirty, ashamed, and undesirable. I felt like a terrible girlfriend.
The diagnosis left me feeling dirty, ashamed, and undesirable. I felt like a terrible girlfriend. I was sure it was somehow my fault.
I told my boyfriend in the worst way possible. I went to the local grocery store where he worked. Red-faced and bleary-eyed, I approached him while he was putting out fresh produce. His smile quickly shifted. “I have a break in 10. Go to my place and I’ll meet you there,” he said.
Sitting in his apartment, I wondered: “Is this it? Is this how our relationship dies? Will he think I cheated on him?”
When he got home, I started crying again. I told him what had happened.
“I have herpes. And I don’t know how.”
“It’s okay. We’ll be okay.”
"Do you have herpes? Have you been with anyone who has?"
"No. I don’t have it, and I’ve never been with anyone who has—as far as I know."
Finding out I had herpes heightened my insecurities as a partner and sexual being. I was so consumed with guilt and shame that I gave my boyfriend a sleepy blow job while I was still recovering from my first outbreak. I wanted to make sure he still desired me. Once we could have sex again, he used condoms a couple of times—but then went back to no condoms. I had an IUD, and he wasn’t worried about herpes. I thought this was a good sign. I thought everything was returning to normal.
Two months after that, I found out he had been cheating on me and had given me herpes. I now had two reminders of my ex: a broken heart and an incurable virus. With each outbreak, I would imagine my ex saying, “You’ll never get rid of me.”
After reading everything I could on herpes and seeing how many people actually have it, I began to feel better about myself. At the most, it’s a skin irritation that occurs infrequently. It wasn’t going to define me.
Arming myself with facts increased my confidence. I didn’t feel ashamed anymore. I didn’t feel dirty. Even my doctor said the worst thing about herpes is the stigma, not the virus.
Healing is nonlinear. You’ll have good days, and you’ll have bad days—but you’re still healing. You’re still surviving. I survived.
I started dating again. I realized I was still worthy of love. I was still worthy of good sex. And if someone didn’t want to hang out with me or have sex with me because of herpes, they were not someone I wanted.
I expected dates to flinch, gawk, or ask me to leave, but in the two years I’ve had herpes, that's never happened. Instead I’m met with sympathy, curiosity, nonchalance, and, every so often, "Me too." Just like flexing a muscle, speaking about herpes made me feel stronger the more I did it.
Contracting herpes—or any STI—is not the end of the world. You will date again. You will have sex again.
Contracting herpes—or any STI—is not the end of the world. You will date again. You will have sex again. The virus may change you, but you’ll become even more aware of your body and its inner workings. You’ll be more committed to discussing sexual health with friends and partners.
A diagnosis like this can make you question whether to love or hate yourself. I chose love. Because I’m all I’ve got.
The number of people infected with three major STDs is at an all-time high (yikes!). We're tackling common misconceptions about STIs and STDs to help #ShattertheSTIgma. Because getting tested should be NBD.
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The 3 STDs You Probably Won’t Get Anymore (Thanks, Science!)
Full disclaimer: This is not a green light to have unprotected sex. These do still exist, and there's a host of other STDs out there that you need to protect yourself against (see: gonorrhea, chlamydia, and syphilis).
Genital Warts
Roughly 90 percent of genital warts are caused by HPV.
"HPV is a virus that can cause two things: genital warts and abnormal Pap smears," says Gil Weiss, M.D., an assistant professor of clinical medicine at Northwestern Medical.
Roughly 90 percent of genital warts are caused by HPV.
Some good news! Though unsightly, genital warts aren't cancerous. And we're seeing a lot less of them thanks to the HPV vaccine Gardasil, which was first introduced in 2006. The vaccine targets the types of HPV that cause cancer and genital warts. Read more about HPV here.
Pubic Lice
"I’ve seen maybe two cases of pubic lice in about 10 years," Weiss says. "I think it's just not as common as it used to be."
Pubic lice, a.k.a. crabs, are actual lice that attach to hair in the pubic area (yep, just like head lice, but in a more unfortunate spot). In a 2009 study of U.S. college students, only 35 out of 817 students had an experience with pubic lice (that means 782 did not).
It's still considered a common STD throughout much of the world (some estimate that anywhere between 2 and 10 percent of the global population has it), but records on the parasite in the U.S. are incomplete, making it tough to track. Even if you are unlucky enough to get it, it's easy to treat and usually doesn't cause any permanent damage.
Hepatitis B
Hep B is a liver infection that's transmitted via blood, semen, and other bodily fluids. It can be passed sexually and, if not treated, can lead to serious health problems like cirrhosis or liver cancer. But since 1991, there's been a major effort to eliminate hep B in the U.S. through the hepatitis vaccine. And it's working: In 2014, a mere 2,953 cases were reported to the CDC (compare that to the 1.5 million cases of chlamydia reported in 2015).
Chances are, you got this vaccine as a kid. But even if you didn't, there's probably still time to get it now.
The number of people infected with three major STDs is at an all-time high (yikes!). We're tackling common misconceptions about STIs and STDs to help #ShattertheSTIgma. Because getting tested should be NBD.
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Chlamydia Rates Are at an All-Time High, but You Really Shouldn’t Worry
The Basics
Chlamydia is a bacterial infection that's sexually transmitted (similar to gonorrhea or syphilis). It's also one of the most common STIs—and it's showing no signs of slowing down. Reported cases in the U.S. just reached an all-time high: 1.5 million in 2015.
"Chlamydia is the one I see most," says Gil Weiss, M.D., an assistant professor of clinical medicine at Northwestern Medical. "It definitely reflects the national statistic."
How You Get It
You can get chlamydia from having unprotected sex (vaginal, anal, or oral) with someone who's infected.
What's It Like?
The good news: Chlamydia often doesn’t have any painful symptoms. The bad news: For most people, there are no symptoms at all, and you can still pass it on even if you’re asymptomatic.
The good news: Chlamydia often doesn’t have any painful symptoms.
"Asymptomatic women with an unsuspected case of chlamydia [can be] traumatized—especially when they come in for routine STI screening and I need to call them with the bad news," says Sherry Ross, M.D., an OB/GYN and women's health expert.
Weiss also said that at least half the chlamydia cases he sees come as a complete surprise to the patient, because they didn't have any symptoms.
That said, some people do experience abdominal pain, painful urination, and a discharge from the penis or vagina (ew, we know).
How Serious Is It?
Like many other STIs, chlamydia is easy to treat. However it can lead to more serious issues (inflammation of the urethra in men, pelvic inflammatory disease or infertility in women) if you don’t get it taken care of. Weiss also says that antibiotic-resistant strains of chlamydia are not as common as those of gonorrhea, which is comforting.
What Can I Do?
Practice safe sex and get tested.
"Condoms are not consistently used with newly sexually active couples," Ross says. "So it doesn’t come as a complete surprise to me when chlamydia or gonorrhea are found on routine cultures and Pap smears."
If you find out you have it, take your antibiotics as prescribed and you’ll be good in as little as a week. You will need to wait at least another seven days until you can have sex again—and make sure your partner gets treated too. Remember that just because you get it once doesn't mean you're immune.
More good news: Scientists are working on a potential vaccine, but they’re at least four or five years away from testing it on humans.
The number of people infected with three major STDs, including chlamydia, is at an all-time high (yikes!). We're tackling common misconceptions about STIs and STDs to help #ShattertheSTIgma. Because getting tested should be NBD.
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The STD You’ve Probably Never Heard Of
The Basics
Trichomoniasis (trich) is a common STI caused by a tiny parasite called Trichomonas vaginalis. An estimated 3.7 million people are infected, but because only about 30 percent show symptoms, most people don't know they have it until they get a positive test result.
How You Get It
The parasite gets passed during unprotected vaginal sex (can be from penis to vagina, vagina to penis, or vagina to vagina). Trich usually doesn't affect other areas, like the mouth or anus, which means this is one STD that is relatively uncommon for gay and bisexual men.
What’s It Like?
Here’s where the not-fun part comes in: When trichomoniasis does cause symptoms, they're not exactly pleasant. Men may feel itching or irritation inside the penis, whereas women can experience a gross-smelling vaginal discharge, itching, and burning during urination. Painful sex can also happen for both genders. And pro tip: Anytime you're having painful sex, it's a good idea to stop immediately.
Most people don't know they've got it until they get a positive test result.
How Serious Is It?
"It depends on what your definition of serious is," says Yesmean Wahdan, M.D., the associate medical director at Bayer Women's Healthcare. "If 'less serious' means a disease that can be easily cured, trich falls into that category."
On the other hand, the inflammation that trichomoniasis causes can make it significantly easier to contract a more serious disease like HIV. 0 And, as with several STDs, things get more complicated if you're infected and pregnant: Trich is associated with preterm births and other negative pregnancy outcomes.
What Can I Do?
As with many other STDs, you can prevent this one by wearing a condom.
The treatment for trich is easy. It's usually one megadose of antibiotics—metronidazole, tinidazole, or nitroimidazole. FYI: If you are treated with any of these antibiotics, do not drink alcohol. Side effects include extreme nausea and abdominal discomfort. We'll just leave it at that.
“With trichomonas, get treatment and change your behavior while being treated—either with abstinence or condom use," says Yvonne Bohn, M.D., a gynocologist in Santa Monica. And remember that getting it once doesn't make you immune.
Also, trich is not included in your usual STI screening panel (it often just includes chlamydia and gonorrhea). So unless you have symptoms that your doc thinks are in line with trich or you specifically request the test, it won't be included.
The number of people infected with three major STDs is at an all-time high (yikes!). We're tackling common misconceptions about STIs and STDs to help #ShattertheSTIgma. Because getting tested should be NBD.
Works Cited
- Infection with Trichomonas vaginalis increases the risk of HIV-1 acquisition. McClelland RS, Sangare L, Hassan WM. The Journal of infectious diseases, 2007, undefined.;195(5):0022-1899.
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Why You Shouldn’t Freak Out If You Get Herpes
The Basics
Herpes is a super-common STD caused by the herpes simplex virus, of which there are two kinds: type 1 (HSV-1) and type 2 (HSV-2). Though genital herpes is frequently caused by HSV-2 and oral herpes (think cold sores) is caused by HSV-1, researchers have noticed that HSV-1 can also lead to genital herpes. 0
Regardless, most people don’t know if they have either type, because symptoms are often mild or nonexistent. As a result, almost 90 percent of people who have herpes don’t know it. The CDC estimates that 776,000 people get new herpes infections every year.
How You Get It
“Herpes is very, very common,” says Raquel Dardik, M.D., an OB/GYN at NYU Langone Medical Center.
You usually get HSV-1 from nonsexual contact when you're a kid, whereas HSV-2 typically gets transmitted during sexual contact with someone who has genital herpes. With HSV-2, it's also way easier for men to transfer the virus to women, as opposed to the other way around.
Though getting diagnosed can cause anger or shame—or even make you question whether your partner has been cheating—remember most people who have herpes don’t know they do.
“If someone has a herpes genital outbreak, you treat the disease, but the virus stays in the nerves in that area," Dardik says. "And you can shed the herpes without having an outbreak.” This is called asymptomatic shedding. In other words, your partner may have passed it to you, not knowing he or she had it in the first place.
One more thing: "If you have cold sores [type 1] and get exposed to type 2, your reaction will be quite moderate," says Gil Weiss, M.D., an assistant professor of clinical medicine at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. "If you already have one type of herpes, you may be immune to the other."
What’s It Like?
Nothing! Unless you’re having a herpes outbreak, you won’t see anything different in the mirror.
If you do have an outbreak, it usually means a painful sore will appear on the genitals, rectum, or mouth. After about four days, the sore may break open and can take up to four weeks to heal. "If you go online [and Google herpes], you'll see very dramatic pictures," Weiss says. "But most people have very mild symptoms or don't know they have it."
How Serious Is It?
If by serious, you mean incurable, then yes, herpes is serious. But if serious means significantly impacting your day to day, then nope, herpes isn’t that serious.
“My patients are often most upset about herpes,” Dardik says. “There seems to some real emotional stigma there. Even if your partner tests positive for the virus, it might be awkward up front but might not have any permanent impact on the relationship,” Dardik says.
Even if your partner tests positive for the virus, it might not have any permanent impact on the relationship.
Genital herpes does make it easier to contract and spread the HIV virus. And it can have more serious complications for pregnant women. So if you’re pregnant and have a history of genital herpes, you should talk to your doc.
What Can I Do?
Though herpes is pretty common, it’s not part of a routine STI panel. Doctors don’t like to test without symptoms because of the potential for false positives. If you do have symptoms, talk to your doctor about getting a herpes blood test (a type-specific HSV serologic test).
Most doctors will prescribe acyclovir or valacyclovir (a.k.a Valtrex), daily antiviral medications that can reduce outbreaks and even help suppress genital herpes so it’s not passed as easily.
Using condoms can also help reduce your chances of spreading or getting the herpes virus. But they're not 100 percent effective, since you can still transmit the virus even if you're not experiencing symptoms. And if you're having an outbreak, it's best to abstain from sex entirely.
Researchers have been looking for a potential cure or vaccine for years. Most recently a company called Rational Vaccines completed a promising first phase of human clinical trials testing a vaccine called Theravax. But they’re not the only ones looking for a cure. In June 2016, another vaccine, simply dubbed GEN 003, completed its phase II trials with similar so-far-so-good results.
A cure or vaccine would be huge for the one in six people who have genital herpes. Until then, we suggest sticking to open, honest convos with your partners.
The number of people infected with three major STDs is at an all-time high (yikes!). We're tackling common misconceptions about STIs and STDs to help #ShattertheSTIgma. Because getting tested should be NBD.
Works Cited
- Trends in herpes simplex virus type 1 and type 2 seroprevalence in the United States. Xu F, Sternberg MR, Kottiri BJ. JAMA, 2006, Aug.;296(8):1538-3598.
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Gonorrhea Is (Probably) Not the End of the World, but Here’s Why You Should Get Tested
The Basics
There are several theories on why gonorrhea is called "the clap." Some say docs referred to gonorrhea as "the collapse" during WWII and that "the clap" is a shortened version (or mispronunciation of) that. Others claim it's from a barbaric treatment that involved literally clapping the penis to get rid of the pus. Ouch.
Whatever its nickname's origin, gonorrhea is pretty common—and it's only becoming more so. The CDC estimates that about 820,000 people get it—but less than half of those cases are actually reported.
How You Get It
Gonorrhea is sexually transmitted, meaning you can get it during vaginal, anal, or oral sex. (That’s because the bacteria lives in those areas.) You can't get it from casual contact (hugging or holding hands) with someone who has it.
About 820,000 people get gonorrhea—but less than half of those cases are actually reported.
What’s It Like?
In the beginning, most people—especially women—don’t have any symptoms. If you do, they can appear one day to two weeks after the infection starts. Symptoms can include abdominal pain, pain during sex or urination, and, yes, pus or discharge from the genitals.
How Serious Is It?
Here’s the thing: Gonorrhea is usually treatable with antibiotics. But if you don’t know you have it, don’t get tested, or for some reason decide to ignore your symptoms, it can lead to more serious complications, such as infertility in men and pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) in women, which can also lead to infertility issues.
What Can I Do?
Use a condom and get tested frequently.
"For bacterial or viral infections, like gonorrhea or chlamydia, we treat them with antivirals or antibiotics," says Raquel Dardik, M.D., an OB/GYN at NYU Langone Medical Center. "Most STIs are sensitive to antibiotics or antivirals—you don't even need to do follow-up tests to make sure [the patient] was 'adequately' treated."
It's true: As long as you catch it early, you'll take antibiotics—usually two (like ciprofloxacin and azithromycin) and get on with your (safer sex) life.
That said, you may have heard about "super gonorrhea," drug-resistant forms that can't be treated with current antibiotics. The CDC is working to slow the spread of this bacteria, and the WHO issued a release in late August 2016 urging new gonorrhea treatment guidelines that use stronger antibiotics.
The number of people infected with three major STDs, including gonorrhea, is at an all-time high (yikes!). We're tackling common misconceptions about STIs and STDs to help #ShattertheSTIgma. Because getting tested should be NBD.
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