red area of dots on glans top

[Asiapanic]

7-8 days ago I noticed a red spot on the left side of the glans of my circumcised penis, about 1/2 cm up from the rim (I have papules) on the flesh-colored part.  I found maybe 3-5 little red bumps, each about the size of a comma, clustered in an area about as big as a capital O.  If the light hits them right they kind of reflect it in an almost shiny fashion.  Not fluid-filled, itchy, painful, raised up too high, or wet -- if anything dry: once I thought I saw a bit of flaking-off skin on top -- not a scab, not dark-colored.  I thought they might be blocked pores due to heat, sweat, irritation, chafing, masturbation.  But when I had blocked pores on the glans before, they were on the left under side & randomly distributed, not clumped in a single "patch".  I worried: More than one thing, only one side of the body: herpes!  So that very day I showed them to the nearest derm (who saw me 1x before).  Looking under normal light with an unaided eye, he said, "Not herpes. Not contagious. No medicine needed. Nothing to worry about. You can have sex with your wife."  He said: Fordyce's condition.  A few days later I returned home & showed my wife, who laughed, "Your skin's just getting old!  I wouldn't worry."  Since the derm. visit I haven't had any sexual relations with anyone, but I have masturbated.  I haven't touched the bumps at all; only stretched the skin on either side a bit to see.  But yesterday the area seems to have widened & darkened a bit.  So today I went to a derm who knows me better.  He looked at it with a magnifying glass, using a flashlight.  He asked if it had gotten bigger, & I said yes.  He said that in the summer when it is hot you can get a rash down in your groin, but normally not on the penis glans.  I asked what he thought of the Fordyce's diagnosis, & he said what I found online: normally present on lips, incl. female genitalia, with nothing about the glans.  I asked if it might be a small cut, but he said no, there were several distinct things, pushing up from below or something.  I said the words "blocked pores?" in English & he seemed to understand it, but didn't suggest it as a diagnosis, instead saying, "I don't know what it is, but at least I can say it isn't herpes."  I asked him what to do, & he said, "Don't worry about it.  Yes, you can have sexual relations with your wife.  No, you don't have to rush to wash your hands should you touch it.  It isn't contagious.  Benign.  Don't put lotion or medicine on it, just leave it alone, wait & see.  Nothing to worry about."  He didn't take any samples, & they don't have the Type 2 Select herpes test in Japan.  From my description, what do you think likely?  Fordyce's?  Blocked pores?  Herpes?  Warts?  Does it sound contagious? Likely to respond to lotions or medications of any kind?  Or other treatment?  And should I refrain from masturbation, sexual relations of any kind with my wife, or any other activity until the redness goes away?  Or is that not warranted?  Thanks!

[Asiapanic]

Alright, I'll try to do that.  A new set of red bumps which push off a flake of skin will be hard for me to ignore, but if that's what three professionals say to do, then I will do my best.  

From my end, though, it seemed like the first one's diagnosis was wrong, and the second one's was "I don't know what it is," so the fact that they both said "not contagious and not herpes" was not as reassuring as it might otherwise have been.  

I guess I have unreasonably been expecting all doctors to know everything with 100% certainty, not just what things aren't but what they are, all neat and tied down with a specific name, cause, prognosis, etc.  That's why I put so much stock in tests and samples and things, above just eyeballing something -- that there would be hard material evidence yes or no.  

[Christie2004]

You could try posting your question over in the STD forum; there have been very many similar ones there.  Dr. HHH is world renowned in the STD field (Dr. Rockoff, he thinks the world of you and often refers people to THIS forum, too!)

Or just go over there and browse the Archive under herpes, herpes symptoms, etc.  You will find vast amounts of information.  It's reassuring that no doctor who has actually seen the area thinks its herpes.

[Asiapanic]

Dear Doctor:

Some background: I'm a male, Northwestern-European-American, fair-skinned, hairy-torsoed, sweat a lot in the heat, overweight but not "morbidly obese" (just over 5' 7" but just under 220 lbs.), married, mid-30-year-old who for work does almost nothing but sit all day at my desk working on a laptop.  (What a horrible obit that would make!)  I live near the sea in Japan where the summer days are alternately hot & muggy & hot & dry.  The dermatologist only comes to our part of the countryside for a half-day a week, plus many of the hospital staff are known to me socially, so if I want to see one about anything "embarrassing" like spots in my groin, I normally take a three-hour trip to one of the two nearest large cities.  One of them I have seen fairly regularly; one of them I have seen only twice.  Japanese dermatologists I see don't speak much English beyond the names of conditions & so forth, & they don't have type-2 select blood tests for herpes or put much stock in the blood tests for herpes that they do have.  I bring up herpes because I've got a nagging worry that I contracted it from past indiscretions dating back to more than a year & a half ago & more, & haven't been in America to have that definitive test.  I have been tested for HIV & other sexually-transmitted diseases & these have all come back negative.  

Thank you!

[Alan Rockoff, MD]

You have two opinions from dermatologists that this is not herpes or contagious.  I think you should take their advice and ignore the bumps and resume sexual or any other relations you wish.  And please do yourself a favor by not looking so hard.

Thank you.

Dr. Rockoff