How advanced is an outbreak before it can be swab-tested?

I've had two blood tests for early detection because of itching and burning as well as a lesion which occurred after the ex gave me a rough handjob. The thing is I also have psoriasis. My urologist said it didn't look like psoriasis and that psoriasis doesn't burn or itch, but the other parts of my body with psoriasis do not get as much mileage so I'm not convinced that I didn't just aggravate it. He said he did not think it was herpes, because there was no cluster on it. I am having recurrence of the pink areas and underneath is a rough patch of what seems to be dead skin on top of a raised pink area. It looks like it could be a blister forming or a dry scale. If it were a blister, how soon would it start shedding? Does it need to be a certain size or a cluster or does the pinkness mean that it is already shedding?

[gracefromHHP]

you start shedding prior to the formation of the herpes lesion.

herpes igm testing isn't very accurate. if that's the testing you had done.

you won't get herpes from a handjob. did you also get igg testing done?

grace

[badmonkey]

Glad you are here, grace....

I don't know if the lesion occurred because of  that or if it was present before she started doing it, but the herpes would have come from someone else. These are the results from the first test.

HSVI 6.32

HSVII <0.91

Combined 2.16

I can't find the other results just now. At first I just thought I am negative, but then I started to doubt that I had caught the window just right. I had been together with her for a while before this so I would have to wait 4 more months anyway to be sure.

What you are saying then is I should try to go tomorrow rather than wait until a week from tomorrow?

[badmonkey]

igg

[gracefromHHP]

has your partner been tested yet to know her status?

I'd follow up with your dermatologist at this point, not the urologist. Urologists are better at "plumbing" problems than they are rashes most of the time.

your hsv2 igg is negative so you know you didn't have hsv2 previously. can you recall ever having had cold sores before?

[badmonkey]

Sorry it took so long to reply. Yes, I've been getting HSV1 cold sores for as long as I can remember.

The doctor took a look at it and said he thought it looked like a genital wart. I had him swab it anyway in case I was having a concurrent herpes outbreak.

As he was leaving though the doctor said something strange, he was telling me that if the test comes up negative I may still have herpes and just not be shedding at the moment, which I knew already, but then said that I should get a blood test as well, "because I'm sure you have herpes too." Is that an odd thing for a doctor to say? Do you think that he's assuming I got the HPV from the same person who I know has HSV? All of my other doctors have been trying to talk me down and say they don't think I do have it...even my psych. Should I trust this guy?

[Mistakeguy789]

The challenge with herpes is that the culture test can give false negatives if the sore isn't swabbed after too much time.  We tell people be seen within 24-48hrs for swab because the virus is really active a lot on the skin at the time. So there is that chance the swab may come back negative but its rare if you are seen within 48hrs.  

Your HSV-1 is positive due to the cold sores you had in the past.  So you know its not genital HSV-1.  Your doctor is maybe trying to cover his bases by suggesting a blood test.  For him to say its herpes thats really not the best thing to do without testing.  Visual diagnosis is wrong 1/3 of the time.  

You do need to wait 3 months after the last sexual encounter for a accurate test.  Though the best would be to wait 4 months.  If it has been that long or longer then I would say get the type specific igg for just the HSV-2 since you know you have HSV-1.  No need to do a combined test as it will always come back postive due to your HSV-1.  Never have an IGM or whatever they say will find it early.  Its got a lot of false positives and you should only use the igg test.  I wish we could mass mail all the doctors in the world and tell them to STOP using the IGM test.  If they use it I say we should make them pay a fine to a herpes community lol.