Venereal diseases

Symptoms and causes

Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) or venereal diseases are infections transmitted after sexual contact. They are transmitted from human to human and can be infections with bacteria, viruses or parasites. These, too, are disorders for which you can get help from a dermatologist.

Some of these additional conditions can be recognised because they trigger skin abnormalities . Sometimes, they present as genital skin lesions, sometimes they can give skin patches all over the body. A number of STIs are characterised by a suppurative loss or discharge. There are many different known STIs, such as chlamydia, gonorrhoea, syphilis, herpes and genital warts (condyloma accuminata). Also scabies and lice can be transmitted after sexual contact. All of these conditions give other specific symptoms.

Diagnosis and treatment

The diagnosis is often made based on what the doctor sees. Urine and blood tests are often performed in order to make a correct diagnosis or to find any other STIs.

There are different treatment options for each condition. These will be discussed with you during a consultation.

genital warts: e.g. we can freeze the lesions (cryotherapy), laser therapy can be performed, but also cream treatments (imiquimod and green tea derivative).
syphilis, chlamydia and gonorrhoea: antibiotic treatments; some treatments require pills, others ones, such as for syphilis, an injection
read more about lice, scabies and herpes