Could i have herpes?

[LilBitWorried]

Well i've always had problems with the skin on my penis.  I've been diagnosed with sebacious(sp?) cysts on my penis more than once.

It seems like whenever i have unprotected sex i get them.  Well about two and a half years ago i had sex with my g/f who at the time we were having sex and using a dildo.  Well after a while she said it started to hurt her.  So the next day she went to the doc and they took test of herpes, and the doctor said that's what it probably was but the tests came back and said it was just a urinary tract infection.

Well a few days after that i got a bunch of yellow pimple like things all over my penis. No clusters.  Just a bunch of singular pimple like things on my penis.  They didn't hurt at all and didn't really bother me.  After just a few days they went away.  Some faded and others looked like smaller red bumps and finally faded.  They were here and gone within a few days.  I was never sick, like flu like symptoms.

Well since that time two and a half years ago i never have gotten any of those.  Just the sebacious cysts.  Now i know herpes usually comes back, but it hasn't yet, if that's what this is.  I'm going to take a blood test to see if i have herpes, but i know if you don't have any sores the tests aren't REALLY helpful.

So i guess i'm really asking is what are the odds that i have herpes versus just skin irritation?  Like i said i had probably like 20 or 25 small yellowish looking pimples, but no clusters.  And they faded into red spots and went away never to return.

I'm going to see my g/f  and wanted to know if i could transmit the herpes easily if i never have had any symptoms in the past 2 and a half years.

Thanks

[pessimistic]

I was worried maybe I had herpes, like so many other people who actually have symptoms for Fordyce's Condition.  After reading many posts and answers, it looks like the 5-7 white, round, subcutaneous dots speckling the center, periphery of my upper, outer lip are also symptoms of Fordyce's Condition.  I've only noticed these recently, and I'm sure they weren't there up until several months ago.  I'm a 32 year old male.

I also have had eczema on my upper chest, arms, neck and face for about a decade that activates in the winter and after long, hot showers.  I read that eczema, rosacea and other similar skin conditions often go hand in hand with Fordyce's Condition.

I know everything I read says these types of conditions are not contagious.  But I can't help but be very pessimistic since the true causes are unknown.  How can the medical community know that Fordyce's Condition, for instance, is not contagious if the root cause is unknown.  Can it not be that skin conditions are actually caused, at the root, by some sort of viral or bacterial infection?

I'd love to be convinced I'm not afflicted with some unknown virus or bacteria.  In the meantime, I feel guilty engaging in any sort of sexual contact because I don't FEEL certain my condition is not contagious.  Just how certain can the medical field really be if the causes are unknown?

To further my pessimism, it SEEMS like each symptom has occurred after sexual contact.  And it appears many other people who have posted also make the temporal connection and think it is a causal connection.  Unfortunately, it's hard to determine if the temporal connection truly translates into a causal connection.

[LilBitWorried]

i appreciate your response!  i always was under the impression that the blood tests weren't an accurate way to find out if you had it or not.

but thanks again!

[Alan Rockoff, MD]

Sounds like irritation, not herpes.  Your statement that "if you don't have any sores the tests aren't REALLY helpful," is not accurate.  The tests are especially helpful in just that situation.  That's why you should get one, so you can stop worrying about what you almost certainly don't have.

Take care.

Dr. Rockoff