Aa
Must be herpes is there a chance...
I'm a med student in Canada, and have been going through a rough time in the last 4 months. In November, 2005, I had unprotected sex with a girl I had just started dating. Just 24 hours later, I noticed a tingling sensation, associated with a 1-cm diameter red patch at the right base of my penis. The next morning (48hrs after sex), I woke to find 5-6 blister-like lesions on the red patch. I know
it sounds like herpes, but each lesion had a hair follicle in the middle of it.
My right inguinal nodes were tender, but I felt fine otherwise. The lesions resolved over 14 days, but on day 10 I noticed an ulcer develop near the lesions - this took much longer to heal - around 3 more weeks, and seeped a clear fluid (so 5 weeks total). However, at the center of the lesion, with tweezers, I was able to pull out a strand of hard white pus. In the 3 months since then, I've had 3 recurrences, but these have consisted of one hard nodule under the skin that never broke and resolved over 14 days.
One week after all the lesions had healed, I was squeezing a pimple on my chin.
Again, just 24 hours later, I got this eruption at that site - there was a cluster of 5 red painful papules, with a fissure, and this took a long 5 weeks to heal. Again,
there was clear fluid seeping, but again, many of the lestions had hairs in them.
Autoinoculation comes to mind. Just 3 weeks after my face healed, the lesion
recurred, again mostly with hair follicles. There were about 6 red papules,
more scattered, and 2 small vesicles. This has taken about 3 weeks to heal. And just recently I had another recurrence with pustules that burst and formed ulcers. This has taken 2 weeks to heal.
I was so certain it was herpes, I went on a 1 month course of Valtrex in the middle of all this. In spite of that, within 15 days, I had a recurrence in both areas. I stopped Valtrex to get a proper diagnosis.
So basically in the last 4 months, I've had constant fluctuating lesions either on my genitals or my face. This is no fun. My gf has denied any symptoms, and I believe her. I went to a GP at an STD clinic, and carefully described all of this, and she said it is almost definitely folliculitis, because it involved the hair follicles, and she has never seen herpes do this. Also, there was not a long enough incubation period for herpes, both in the genitals and the face. But I don't understand what else it could be. I went to another GP when I had a nodule and a healing chin infection, and she still highly doubted herpes, thought the face infection was staph, and did a culture test on the genital nodule, which turned out to be negative (I know there is a 50% false positve rate). I will get a blood test soon (which is difficult in Canada), but do you think:
1. This is obvious herpes?
2. Could it be some weird recurrent staph infection?
3. If it is HSV-1, why would I get frequent genital recurrences, and if HSV-2, why so many facial recurrences?
Thank you,
Worried Canuc
it sounds like herpes, but each lesion had a hair follicle in the middle of it.
My right inguinal nodes were tender, but I felt fine otherwise. The lesions resolved over 14 days, but on day 10 I noticed an ulcer develop near the lesions - this took much longer to heal - around 3 more weeks, and seeped a clear fluid (so 5 weeks total). However, at the center of the lesion, with tweezers, I was able to pull out a strand of hard white pus. In the 3 months since then, I've had 3 recurrences, but these have consisted of one hard nodule under the skin that never broke and resolved over 14 days.
One week after all the lesions had healed, I was squeezing a pimple on my chin.
Again, just 24 hours later, I got this eruption at that site - there was a cluster of 5 red painful papules, with a fissure, and this took a long 5 weeks to heal. Again,
there was clear fluid seeping, but again, many of the lestions had hairs in them.
Autoinoculation comes to mind. Just 3 weeks after my face healed, the lesion
recurred, again mostly with hair follicles. There were about 6 red papules,
more scattered, and 2 small vesicles. This has taken about 3 weeks to heal. And just recently I had another recurrence with pustules that burst and formed ulcers. This has taken 2 weeks to heal.
I was so certain it was herpes, I went on a 1 month course of Valtrex in the middle of all this. In spite of that, within 15 days, I had a recurrence in both areas. I stopped Valtrex to get a proper diagnosis.
So basically in the last 4 months, I've had constant fluctuating lesions either on my genitals or my face. This is no fun. My gf has denied any symptoms, and I believe her. I went to a GP at an STD clinic, and carefully described all of this, and she said it is almost definitely folliculitis, because it involved the hair follicles, and she has never seen herpes do this. Also, there was not a long enough incubation period for herpes, both in the genitals and the face. But I don't understand what else it could be. I went to another GP when I had a nodule and a healing chin infection, and she still highly doubted herpes, thought the face infection was staph, and did a culture test on the genital nodule, which turned out to be negative (I know there is a 50% false positve rate). I will get a blood test soon (which is difficult in Canada), but do you think:
1. This is obvious herpes?
2. Could it be some weird recurrent staph infection?
3. If it is HSV-1, why would I get frequent genital recurrences, and if HSV-2, why so many facial recurrences?
Thank you,
Worried Canuc
I have a few pimples on my penis, 1 on the very head of the penis 1 under the ridge of the penis, and 2 on the shaft. should I be worried?
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
A neighboring province! Good grief! I hope you don't have to go from Toronto to Winnipeg....
Dr. Rockoff
Dr. Rockoff
Thanks Dr.Rockoff,
I'll get tested as soon as I can - it's much more difficult to get the Western Blot than in the states, unfortunately, but I think I can get one in a neighboring province next week.
It is great that you are answering these questions for people that are so worried and upset.
Kris
I'll get tested as soon as I can - it's much more difficult to get the Western Blot than in the states, unfortunately, but I think I can get one in a neighboring province next week.
It is great that you are answering these questions for people that are so worried and upset.
Kris
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
As you well understand, I can't tell much from a distance. The rash sounds like folliculitis in the groin. The chin rash sounds like pimples that you're poking. There's no reason to think you got HSV-1 and HSV-2 at the same time, or either one in 2 places. That happens rarely, even to medical students. In fact, you may well not have herpes at all.
My advice is to:
1. get an HSV-2 IgG titer.
2. leave any new lesions strenuously alone and have them examined and cultured at once
3. avoid unprotected sex
Once this matter is clarified--and it will be--you can get on with things without anxiety.
Best..
Dr. Rockoff
My advice is to:
1. get an HSV-2 IgG titer.
2. leave any new lesions strenuously alone and have them examined and cultured at once
3. avoid unprotected sex
Once this matter is clarified--and it will be--you can get on with things without anxiety.
Best..
Dr. Rockoff
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