Protecting your skin: hair removal, chafing, fungal infections

This lesson is part of the WARTES HPV Masterclass. Preview: the first part of the narration.

HPV only needs a small opening in your skin to settle in. In this video, I talk about the habits that open these doors, and how to close them: razors, wax, hair-removal creams, chafing in the groin, and fungal infections.

We know that HPV needs small wounds in the skin or mucosa to reach the basal cells. Healthy skin is a barrier. Anything that damages this barrier makes it easier for new viruses to settle in. A razor makes microscopic scratches, and if it passes over a wart, it carries the virus to the skin around it.

Wax pulls hairs out from the root, and the open hair follicles and irritated skin give the virus a way in. Hair-removal creams dissolve hair chemically, and the same chemicals irritate the skin, and can even burn it. In a large population study, sexually transmitted infections were reported more often by people who removed their pubic hair.

This was a survey, and on its own it does not prove cause and effect. But it matches what we see in our clinic.

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