Syphilis symptoms can be hard to notice and come and go over time. The best way to know if you have syphilis is to get tested. You may not notice symptoms, or you may mistake them for another skin condition such as a pimple or rash. Syphilis occurs in stages:
Primary Stage: A syphilis sore shows up where the infection entered your body. This is usually on or around your vagina, penis, scrotum, or anus. In rare situations syphilis can appear on your lips or mouth. These sores are very contagious and show up between 3 weeks and 3 months after infection. These sores usually last 3 to 6 weeks and then go away on their own.
Secondary Stage: Symptoms include rashes on the palms of your hands, soles of your feet or other parts of your body. This rash may be hard to see, and it usually doesn't itch. You may have flu-like symptoms. This can last 2 to 6 weeks at a time and may come and go for up to 2 years. These symptoms will go away by themselves, but until you get treated for syphilis, you'll still have the infection and it can move into the dangerous later stages.
Late Stage: In between the secondary stage and the late stage, there may be times when your syphilis infection is latent (there are no signs or symptoms at all) for months or even years - but you still need treatment to get rid of it. People who have had syphilis for a long time face serious health problems. Late stages of syphilis can cause tumors, blindness, and paralysis. It can damage your nervous system, brain and other organs, and may even kill you.
Syphilis can be cured with antibiotics in the early stages. If you get treatment late, it will still cure the infection and stop future damage to your body. But the damage that late stage syphilis has already caused can't be changed or healed. The complications from late stage syphilis can happen 10-20 years after you first get infected.
