Expert: John Thai, MD - 10/20/2009

Question
Hi,  I have a question I was hoping you could help me with.  I noticed small white clusters around my girlfriends anus, when i asked her about them she said it was due to having really bad hemrhoids and that the hemrhoids produced scarring and that is what I saw.  Does that sound right?  I also noticed her looking up genital warts a few weeks before online and she was scheduled for a cosposcy because her pap smear came back abnormal.

Answer
Hi Mike, it is unusual for hemorrhoidal scars to present without any prior surgical intervention. Without having an observation of that lesion, there is no way to determine what she has. An abnormal pap smear does not always confer a wart infection. The only way to know is if she candidly tells you. If she refuses, she is protected under medical privacy laws as you do not have the right to know. In such a "blind" situation, my only advice would be to continue practicing safe sex and to get tested every 3 months for sexually transmittable infections.