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Dermatology (Expert Forum)
Folliculitis? Herpes? Ant bite? Help!
Answered by
Alan Rockoff, MD - dermatology, Child Skin Problems
The Rockoff Dermatology Center
Brookline - MA
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Folliculitis? Herpes? Ant bite? Help!
by redhairedgirl1106, Jul 02, 2004 12:00AM
Hello, and thank you for this service! I am 16 weeks pregnant with my second child and have only had one sexual partner in my life. We have been monogomous with each other for almost 9 years. As far as my husband and I are aware, neither of us has ever been exposed to or shown syptoms (symptoms) of genital herpes ever.
Last Friday, I was outside with my daughter setting up a sprinkler and sat in the VERY WET ground (not on purpose). I didn't change my clothing for several hours and didn't think it would be an issue. Later that day, I went to the bathroom and noticed a dead ant... and later still, when I urinated, I felt a very strong stinging sensation on one spot of my labia, that radiated out into a line... almost as if I had a cut. I couldn't see it myself, and asked my husband to look. He said it looked like a pimple or an ingrown hair follicle, and that was all. I just wondered if I'd been bitten by an ant.
Oh, at the time, I was 2 days into a 7 day treatment of Macrobid for a UTI. Saturday morning when I went to the bathroom, it stung again in the same spot... and since DH said it looked like a pimple, I took a piece of toilet paper and squeezed. It looked like it had popped... and it was a little red and *****. A couple of times that day, I put some rubbing alcohol on it (THAT stung... and was probably not the smartest choice). On Sunday, I had no discomfort at all when I went to the bathroom... but a couple of times, used the rubbing alcohol.
DH and I had sex Sunday night. Monday, the stinging while urinating came back... and I grabbed a mirror. It looked to me like a pimple too... and that perhaps the first pimple hadn't completely healed, the sex agrivated it, and was now infected further. Then I saw a couple more bumps that a few days later looked like they were merging together.
I talked to the OB nurse Tuesday... when I felt like I had a bump on the outside of my vagina where it meets the leg... no pus or pimple, just a bump. And it itched a little... and I couldn't wear underwear without it being annoying. I learned I was on the wrong anibiotic for the UTI. I told her about the bumps/pimple/rash? And said it was more annoying than anything else and wondered if I should make an earlier OB appointment or wait a week for my regularly scheduled one. She said unless I noticed swelling or bumps on other areas of my body, or the pain got worse, I could wait.
I started Keflex on Tuesday, soaked in a hot bath... which made the bump on the outside of my vagina hurt and seemed to make that area swell. By Thursday, the original pimple area started to ache. I saw an OB who said it looked suspiciously like herpes. She took a culture to confirm and prescribed Valtrex (which I'm not taking without proof).
Now, the bumps-turned-lesion is disappearing and I just see tiny red dots. Given my and DH's history, herpes doesn't make sense. No herpes pic I've seen looks like my pimpley bumps.
What does it sound like to you?
Thanks!
Last Friday, I was outside with my daughter setting up a sprinkler and sat in the VERY WET ground (not on purpose). I didn't change my clothing for several hours and didn't think it would be an issue. Later that day, I went to the bathroom and noticed a dead ant... and later still, when I urinated, I felt a very strong stinging sensation on one spot of my labia, that radiated out into a line... almost as if I had a cut. I couldn't see it myself, and asked my husband to look. He said it looked like a pimple or an ingrown hair follicle, and that was all. I just wondered if I'd been bitten by an ant.
Oh, at the time, I was 2 days into a 7 day treatment of Macrobid for a UTI. Saturday morning when I went to the bathroom, it stung again in the same spot... and since DH said it looked like a pimple, I took a piece of toilet paper and squeezed. It looked like it had popped... and it was a little red and *****. A couple of times that day, I put some rubbing alcohol on it (THAT stung... and was probably not the smartest choice). On Sunday, I had no discomfort at all when I went to the bathroom... but a couple of times, used the rubbing alcohol.
DH and I had sex Sunday night. Monday, the stinging while urinating came back... and I grabbed a mirror. It looked to me like a pimple too... and that perhaps the first pimple hadn't completely healed, the sex agrivated it, and was now infected further. Then I saw a couple more bumps that a few days later looked like they were merging together.
I talked to the OB nurse Tuesday... when I felt like I had a bump on the outside of my vagina where it meets the leg... no pus or pimple, just a bump. And it itched a little... and I couldn't wear underwear without it being annoying. I learned I was on the wrong anibiotic for the UTI. I told her about the bumps/pimple/rash? And said it was more annoying than anything else and wondered if I should make an earlier OB appointment or wait a week for my regularly scheduled one. She said unless I noticed swelling or bumps on other areas of my body, or the pain got worse, I could wait.
I started Keflex on Tuesday, soaked in a hot bath... which made the bump on the outside of my vagina hurt and seemed to make that area swell. By Thursday, the original pimple area started to ache. I saw an OB who said it looked suspiciously like herpes. She took a culture to confirm and prescribed Valtrex (which I'm not taking without proof).
Now, the bumps-turned-lesion is disappearing and I just see tiny red dots. Given my and DH's history, herpes doesn't make sense. No herpes pic I've seen looks like my pimpley bumps.
What does it sound like to you?
Thanks!
Doctor's Answer
by Alan Rockoff, MD, Jul 03, 2004 12:00AM
, Jul 03, 2004 12:00AM
It sounds like a pimple. It does not sound like herpes. Your sexual history would make that diagnosis quite unlikely in any case. I think the pimple was more likely to be caused by wetness than by an ant bite.
I expect that the herpes culture will be negative. Since the OB raised the question of herpes, I expect that she will want to obtain serum blood tests for herpes 2 just to be sure, and to repeat them in a couple of months. As I said, I think the diagnosis is most unlikely, but since it's important to know one way or another before you deliver, the tests should be useful to achieve more certainty.
Bit I still say it doesn't sound like herpes on historical and clinical grounds.
Take care, and good luck with your new baby.
Dr. Rockoff
I expect that the herpes culture will be negative. Since the OB raised the question of herpes, I expect that she will want to obtain serum blood tests for herpes 2 just to be sure, and to repeat them in a couple of months. As I said, I think the diagnosis is most unlikely, but since it's important to know one way or another before you deliver, the tests should be useful to achieve more certainty.
Bit I still say it doesn't sound like herpes on historical and clinical grounds.
Take care, and good luck with your new baby.
Dr. Rockoff
