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Dermatology (Expert Forum)
Brown Growth
Answered by
Alan Rockoff, MD - dermatology, Child Skin Problems
The Rockoff Dermatology Center
Brookline - MA
Welcome to the DERMATOLOGY FORUM! Questions in this forum are answered by Dermatologists from St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital, under the direction of Andrew Alexis, M.D., M.P.H.
Brown Growth
by shoeshine, May 23, 2004 12:00AM
A sex partner recently told me that a week after having sex with me she came down with HSV2(test conclusive). I then checked myself and found a small elongated brown bumpy fleshy growth (raised..about the size of a screw in a pair of eyeglasses) near the base of the shaft of my penis. The place where the growth was located was (in retrospect )VERY itchy in and around that time period. I do not know if the growth was there prior to her infection. During that same period i was having painful and recurrent "pimples or sore spots" inside my nose. Well.. I freaked out and heated up a piece of metal and burned off the growth. Since then it healed very nicely. The ithcing is gone although I did have some itching and tingling for an hour or so a few days after I removed it. I had cortorized the open wound by putting a few concentrated granuals of Chlorine in the wound to also disinfect. Now I have no ithcing , and the sore in my nose is also gone. I have not been tested for HSV. My questions are.. what do you think about that growth and what Ive done?..I have never had any blisters or typical sores associated with HSV!!!(unless a brown fleshy bumpy small elongated growth can be HSV... also... does asymptomatic shedding occur only from the site of a former lesion? or can it occur along even unaffected skin surfaces?. If asmptomatic shedding can only occur from the site of a former lesion , have I decreased the risk of shedding if I do have HSV due to the fact that the surface of the former lesion is now scar tissue. Thanks for your service in regards to this matter.
Doctor's Answer
by Alan Rockoff, MD, May 23, 2004 12:00AM
, May 23, 2004 12:00AM
I don't think the growth you burned off has anything to do with herpes. I am a bit impressed (and a bit appalled) by your self-surgery, but you seem to have achieved removal. (I wouldn't risk it again, though.)
If your partner came down with herpes after having sex with you, she might have caught it from you, or maybe not--maybe she had recurrent herpes before she met you. A first-time occurrence is usually associated with severe pain and swelling and swollen glands. Did she have these?
In any case, if you never had obvious signs of herpes, you should have a blood test for herpes 2. If you're negative, you can be pretty sure that you didn't give herpes to her. On the other hand, she might have given it to you, if it turns out that she had it before and was shedding.
Bottom line: check your herpes test, and don't cauterize yourself.
Take care.
Dr. Rockoff
If your partner came down with herpes after having sex with you, she might have caught it from you, or maybe not--maybe she had recurrent herpes before she met you. A first-time occurrence is usually associated with severe pain and swelling and swollen glands. Did she have these?
In any case, if you never had obvious signs of herpes, you should have a blood test for herpes 2. If you're negative, you can be pretty sure that you didn't give herpes to her. On the other hand, she might have given it to you, if it turns out that she had it before and was shedding.
Bottom line: check your herpes test, and don't cauterize yourself.
Take care.
Dr. Rockoff
