I'll never, ever do that again

Before this event, I have been STD free all my life and monogamous for 12 years.

Two weeks ago, I shaved my shaft before having prolonged, agressive, unprotected sex with a woman who I didn't know well.   The next morning I had 8 red bumps from the middle to the base of my penis and 8 more up around my underwear wasteband (where I didn't shave).  They were sore to the touch.  In a couple days I pinched them and they burst.  The ones on my shaft turned into sores that have nearly healed now and the ones around the wasteband just scabbed and are still a little discolored.  I figured they were both some kind of folliculitis.  

But then after about 8 days, I got a cluster of tiny blisters near one of the scabs at the base of my penis.  These vesicles sort of burst with delicate manipulation and scabbed a little bit.  A couple days later I got another cluster near another one of the folliculitis scabs near the middle of my shaft.  They never hurt at all and I have no other symptoms.

Yesterday, I showed these to a GP and he thought they looked herpetic.  He took a swab for culture and put me on Valtrex.  I told the woman I slept with and she immediately went to her doctor to get a HSV-2 rapid blood test, which came back negative.  We're still both freaking out with concerns about herpes and really can't wait the seven days that they say it will take for the culture report to come back if its negative.  

Can someone please quickly reassure me that a cluster of blisters can follow penile folliculitis without having some kind of HSV infection?

Thank you!

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,
From the symptoms that you have described,chances of these lesions being herpes are more,although chances of folliculitis also cannot be denied. When signs of herpes do occur, they typically appear as one or more blisters on or around the genitals or rectum. The blisters break, leaving tender ulcers (sores) that may take two to four weeks to heal the first time they occur. Typically, another outbreak can appear weeks or months after the first, but it almost always is less severe and shorter than the first outbreak.

Herpes also presents with red itchy blisters which scab over. 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.
I hope it helps.Take care and pls do keep me posted on how you are doing or if you have any additional doubts.Kind regards.