HELP Ingrown hair or herpes

Starting about four or fivedays ago i got bumps around my genital area. They are painful and most have popped; all have a visible hair growing through. I have applied triple antibiotic and they seem to drain mildly throughout the day and are still there some have gotten better and lost the pain completely. They have formed higher up on my pubic region by my zipper area but, these are moderate and do not hurt. When they popped they were hollow; the hallow areas had way more hair growing from them, and seemed to start healing.They were more painful have gotten better and have begun to itch i am assuming because they are healing. I was concerned that my skin is changing and i have had an increase in sexual activity; i am hoping this may be the cause. I am extremely worried. Please help.

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,
From the symptoms it looks like follciulitis( because of hair arising from the bumps) but the possibility of herpes cannot be ignored without investigations. The only way of ruling it out is by getting yourself tested for genital herpes. Laboratory tests include: culture of the virus, direct fluorescent antibody (DFA) studies to detect virus, skin biopsy, and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to test for presence of viral DNA. I sincerely advise you to consult a dermatologist and get it ruled out.

It is very difficult to precisely confirm a diagnosis without examination and investigations and the answer is based on the medical information provided. For exact diagnosis, you are requested to consult your dermatologist. I sincerely hope that helps. Take care and please do keep me posted on how you are doing.