Condoms and HPV
There is a lot of debate going on as to whether or not condoms offer any protection against HPV. I have heard from many patients whose doctors sent them on their way after diagnosing HPV with little to no advice except “use condoms.” I have also heard from an equal amount of people who were infected with HPV even though they used condoms. So do condoms really work against this virus? Here are some answers I have found in my research.
The National Institutes of Health’s
Report on Condom Effectiveness did not find any epidemiologic evidence that using condoms reduced the risk of HPV infection. However, they do state “results did suggest that condom use might afford some protection in reducing the risk of HPV-associated diseases, including warts in men and cervical neoplasia in women” (Condom Report ii par. 5). On their
Primer on HPV page, NIH also advises: “Although using a condom is a good idea to prevent transmission of other infections or diseases, condoms may not protect sexual partners from genital HPV infections. HPV infections usually are not limited to the penis or the vagina. The infection can occur on the skin in the genital area, such as the scrotum, vulva, anus, or the skin between the anus and the genitalia - areas that are not protected with normal condom use. It is not known if transmission can occur when the virus levels are very low or undetectable” (A Primer on HPV par. 14).
The American Social Health Association’s HPV
Myths and Misconceptions page also has a section regarding condom use and HPV. It explains that condoms are “likely to be less protective against STDs that spread through skin-to-skin contact, such as HPV and herpes. The reason is simply that condoms do not cover the entire genital area of either sex. They leave the vulva, anus, perineal area, base of the penis, and scrotum uncovered, and contact between these areas can transmit HPV” (Myths and Misconceptions #12).
The
American Society for Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology goes one step further: “A female will be protected from getting HPV if her partner only has lesions on the penis in areas covered by the condom. However, lesions on the base of the penis and scrotum will not be covered by the condom, thereby exposing the partner's vulva. Neither will the male be protected by condom use when the partner's lesions are on the vulva. Additionally, condom use is only partially protective for the male when HPV lesions are on the cervix or in the vagina because vaginal discharge can bathe the base of the penis and the scrotum with HPV infected cells” (Medical FAQs on the Natural History of HPV par. 11).
As you can see, using condoms may help you lessen the symptoms of HPV,
but you should not rely on them to keep you from being infected with the virus itself. This does not make them useless, however. Studies have also shown that in couples where both partners had the same type of high-risk HPV and also used condoms faithfully, the men actually had their HPV go away faster. (To read these studies click
here and
here.) This information is promising and it is great to try and take all the precautions possible to avoid infection. But again, you cannot expect not to be infected, because that isn’t realistic. Instead, both partners should be well informed about the HPV virus, and should make an educated decision together.
Quote from a web site call HPV for Dummies. I am the dummy not anyone else! 
Hpv 
