It's herpetic, but is it...

[primer88]

I'm in my late 30s.  Sexually active, but no unprotected sex.  2mo ago I noticed an area on the front of my thigh about an inch in diameter.  It is an inch or two below where the elastic from the leg of my underwear (briefs) would be.  It was a little itchy and burned when my keys would rub against it in my pocket.  After a few weeks it didn't go away and I looked closer.  There are tiny blisters there with some redness around them.  Over the ensuing few weeks 2 of them have gotten secondarily infected and acted like a big zit, but slowly resolved.  The most recent one is still dark and firm but is getting better.  There are 4-5 little blisters left.  Minimal pain now.

I was thinking the worst - then remembered that about 10yrs ago I had shingles.  It was very mild.  I probably wouldn't have even noticed except it was around my side and back and crossed the area where my waist band was.  My waistband would bother me and finally it went on so long I saw a Dermatologist.  He diagnosed shingles and gave me some acyclovir.  Problem solved almost immediately.  It's been a decade, but I really think this was on the same side as my thigh lesions.  I have read enough about this to know what a dermatome is and depending on which chart you look at, this part of my thigh may be in the same dermatome as my shingles.

Would love to hear some honest informed thoughts on this.  Some of what I read leads me to believe it can be hard to distinguish zoster from simplex.

Thanks

[primer88]

Reread this and realize I forgot a potentially important item.  Had protected sex (thought my thigh wasn't specifically protected) with someone I don't know enough about 1-2 week before I noticed the lesion on my thigh.  Hard to remember exactly when I first got the lesions because I didn't think much about them for a week or two.

Obviously I'm worried, wanted to make sure I included that.

Thanks