Hello everyone,

I hope that you're all doing fine.

You might want to go and make yourself a cup of tea/coffee for this one. It's going to be a long one.

This is a bit of an unusual post to make I suppose, but I felt compelled to as I actively reached out to this community and received some stellar advice that served me very well.

To cut a long story short, I have had a number of unsightly little spots on my penis (as well as around my eyes) since the age of 9.

Throughout my teens and 20s I have repeatedly seen doctors about it who have done nothing, they are symptomless, not at all painful/uncomfortable, but are very unsightly and the spots have made if so that the couple of instances in which I have dropped my gaurd and been prepared to have relations with someone (given my self conscious about the condition, that takes a lot), I have been rejected in both instances, with one of the woman even recoiling in digust and asking me to leave.

This defect has effectively caused me to be a desperately depressed and lonely 29 year old man, who has never experienced what it is to be in a relationship/relations due to the complex I have had around it and fear that being turned away once more would completely destroy me. Quite the vicious circle indeed.

Now, all this is just the context, my backstory and I'm not sympathy chasing here. I have come to terms with these things and am on a self-improvement crusade to ensure that my 30s are worthwhile, though I am aware that in my particular circumstances that there's going to be a real uphill battle.

Incredibly frustrated and fed up of my predicament, a couple of months ago I spent about £1000 to get 7 of the most prominent growths removed through a private clinic. During the consultation, I was told that I had Genital Warts, which I thought impossible, given that I've never had sexual relations of any kind.

Upon telling my Mother about the treatment that I received, she relayed that she had genital warts when she gave birth to me and upon doing a wee bit of research, I found that a child could get warts/HPV from the mother during birth, though this is very rare, knowing my luck (or rather lack of), it appeared to be perfectly feasible.

I then consulted you folks here and was advised by several people to go to a sexual health clinic, which I did about a month ago.

Let me just say that, as it turns out, that was the single best bit of advice I have been given here and me attending one set the wheels in motion for action finally being taken and fingers crossed, some monumental change on the horizon. Anyway, to cut to the chase, it turns out I don't have HPV and was missdiagnosed (much like I was in my youth) by the Doctor at the private clinic who conveniently then proceeded to take my £1000 for the procedure. The procedure did indeed get rid of 7 of thr largest ones, but the sexual health clinic at one point got 4 Doctors and consultants in the room, all agreeing that whatever I did have was not Genital warts, which was later confirmed when my blood results came back negative for all STDs/STIs.

Good news on the whole, but this now had me asking more questions and being further bamboozled by what I had.

The most cutting part was after I explained everything that I had gone through to and how it had effected my life so severely, the head clinician told me that it may have to be something I just live with and that my options are to find a woman who can look past it (that's very easy to say when you haven't lived with it for your entire adult life). I was pretty chocked, but to the clinic's immeasurable credit, they went out of their way to pursue a referral for me, to my local NHS Dermatology Specialist team as a matter of "Urgency". Pictures were taken, calls where made ect. Miracles do happen as I got an appointment at my hospital within a fortnight (practically unheard of here in England) and I saw a doctor there.

The Doctor at the hospital corroborated what the staff in the Sexual Health Clinic Stated, by saying that it definitely wasn't Genital Warts and that the private practice I went to (which I researched and is considered to be quite reputable) didn't do their due diligence and give me a report on the treatment that I had received. She also advised that I wasn't appropriately cautioned on scaring which lined-up with what the sexual health clinic said when they opted not to go the cryotherapy route, in fear that these non-GW spots could leave permanent scars.

Ultimately, she couldn't tell what the spots where either, but deciphered that the ones around my eyes are the exact same and got me booked in for a biopsy.

As of writing this, I had the biopsy a couple of hours ago and will receive results within 6 weeks. From there, the same doctor that I met a couple of weeks ago will look into seeing of treatment is possible and if indeed it is possible on The NHS.

So there you have it. Turns out it's not HPV.

The reason I posted this here though is that it was a follow-up I though would be well worth giving everyone a heads-up on as this community has been extremely helpful and understanding and for those of you who took the time out of your day to read about my plight and make recommendations (which have ultimately helped) I really do thank you from the bottom of my heart!

I hope that all of you out there are able to overcome, live fulfilling lives and even do away with this horrible affliction.