Cyst, ingrown hair, pimple....or wart or herpes? Please help!!!!

[totallyfreakedout]

I have 1 sm bump near my vagina, NOT on the fleshy area. It's on the OUTSIDE-the crease b/w my leg and outer labia, where my panties lie. Looks like a pimple. Saw it ~4 days ago, was very sore, like a pimple. I can get deep ingrown hairs-my skin is very sensitive! I wax~every 3 wks &where the lump is. Tried to pop it and some blood came out, a little puss seemed clear.Doesn't look blistery. Keep squeezing it, trying to pop it few Xs/day. A TINY bit of white puss came out. Was really red at first. Used warm compress-the redness reduced, still there&now a pink bump. Less sore now but press it & still feels like a sore zit. No whitehead or hair! Also used neosporin-helped the cuts from picking at it but the lump itself still there-less swollen.

No fever,discharge-never had anything on genitals.Had 2 others that looked just like this at DIFF times. 1 above pubic bone where I wax; other was where my panties lie-on the right side. Also picked them, I think white puss came out once. Both left a discoloration, like a zit.

Been in a monogamous r-ship for 1 year-have unprotected sex. 4-5 mos after we 1st had sex, had my reg exam-nov 2006-& asked for an "STD Screen” Dr. took cultures & blood.Everything was normal.

What is this!? Pimple, cyst? Or WORSE-herpes or a genital wart? I spent HOURS on the Internet-freaked out b/c I read ingrown hairs/cysts can be mistaken for herpes/warts?!? Also read those usually present on the genitals itself and w/many bumps-this is neither.

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

You're doing too much internet searching for bad news.  There is old saying in medicine, 'If you hear hoofbeats, look for a horse, not a zebra'.  That is, common conditions with typical symptoms are far more frequent than less common things with atypical symptoms.  Sure, sometimes herpes is mistaken for other diagnoses, like folliculitis, a cyst, etc.  But when that happens, the herpes symptom usually is typical:  it's not that herpes actually looks like a cyst, it is that people panic because they don't understand the difference between them.

The bottom line is that what you describe cannot be either herpes or a wart.  Whether it's a garden-variety pimple, an infected sebaceous cyst, folliculitis, or some other condition, I cannot say.  See a health care provider to know for sure.  But in the meantime, there is no reason to worry about herpes or a genital wart.

Best wishes--  HHH, MD

[blossombell]

A related discussion, Herpes, pimple, ingrown hair was started.