Herpes Questions

[cslo76]

About 10 months ago I started having burning sensations on the skin of my penis andwhen I urinated.  This was after unprotected sex with my girlfriend.  There were small red bumps and the skin on my penis was very oily.  My doctor said it looked like Herpes, and did a swab test as well as Chlamydia/Gonorrhea.  All were negative.  I still continue to have this problem today.  The skin of my penis is continuously raw.  When my girlfriend and I have sex I get what appear to be friction burns on the shaft that heal in about a week.  I have been to two different doctors and had had type-specific blood tests at 3 months and 6 months.  My last test was in May.  I am still with the same girl.  I am concerned that two different doctors have not been able to tell me what is wrong. I visited my family physician again yesterday to get him to examine the most recent one.  He said it sort of looks like a herpes sore, but given that I've had 3 negative tests it should just be considered a skin problem and prescribed an ointment for the sore.   Any ideas as to what it could be/  My girlfriend has recently had a type-specific blood test as well.

[Yanni123]

I was hoping to get an answer to my question.
Yanni123

[Alan Rockoff, MD]

First of all, please forget about herpes and stop getting tests, because you obviously don't have it.  What I think you have is irritation of the sensitive penile skin.  I don't know whether by "raw," you mean abraded (in which case you have to avoid friction) or whether you just mean red, in which case you need to stop looking at the intensity of redness, which means nothing and which will go away of you leave it alone and stop looking.

Try ignoring it for a month and then let a dermatologist have a look, if there's still anything to look at.

Take care.

Dr. Rockoff