Comments on the medical situation are welcome on this forum. Moralistic ones and messages that challenge people's sexual choices are not. I deleted your comments here and on another thread. Please take such comments over to the community forums. Thanks.
The additional information does not change my opinion or advice. You give no evidence that suggests you have genital herpes or any other HSV infection. Please direct any further questions to your dermatologist.
Thank you for your response Dr. Hunter. Unfortunately, word count restrictions kept me from telling the whole story, which may or may not change your opinion. About one week after what I believed was my initial genital outbreak, a couple of marks appear on the side of my waist, red patches of dry skin, no irritation. My dermatologist said he believed this was excema, although he thought it unlikely this was causing my genital problems. Two and a half weeks later, those marks suddenly spread all over my torso, up and down both sides and all across the chest and stomach. My dermatologist changed his diagnosis to pityariasis rosea. He said it could take up to 12 weeks to clear up. If said it shouldn't flare up again, but two days ago it did, just on the chest and stomach, multiple red patches of varying size and shape. I itched a bit the first day, but already they're much less visible. Also, in the five weeks since the inital widespread outbreak, the marks on the side are healing, but still slightly visible.
And lastly, the raw skin on the bottom shaft plus the puffy patch of red skin with two open sores that appeared just below the penis head aren't my only genital symptoms. On my penis head itself (FYI: I'm not circumcised), there are a couple of patches of raised skin, darker red in color than the normal skin, that appears for a week, then goes away again. When present, there's also a degree of red splothiness to the head overall. These do cause some discomfort. Again, these first occured after my at-risk encounter and after my possible initial outbreak. And again, I HAD A CONDOM ON, so I've been speculating I spread this to my penis head when washing with my hands. Also, the raised surfaces on the head are similar in size to the raised surfaces I saw on the tips of some of my fingers that caused slight tenderness. My dermatologist didn't see my hands at their worst, so my current plan is to see if it happens again, then go back.
So, taken in total, I'm still worried about herpes, but at least based on your first response, I've opened up to it maybe being something else. Last question, do you still consider herpes unlikely at this point?
Let's review all the reasons that, taken together, prove you don't have herpes. First, your description of the penile rash doesn't sound like herpes, which does not cause diffuse red rash. Second, if a dermatologist can't see anything wrong with your hands, nothing is wrong-- and in particular you don't have herpes of the hands. Third, the negative blood tests at 3 months prove that herpes is not the cause of any of your symptoms, including the penile problem. Fourth, genital herpes almost never transfers from genitals to the hands. Fifth, you can't catch herpes by hand-genital contact.
IgM antibody testing is meaningless and your positive IgM test result does not mean you are infected. Use the search link and enter "herpes diagnosis", "HerpeSelect", and/or "IgM" for innumerable discussions on this forum about this issue.
You should not be taking famciclovir. Undoubtedly you have found it makes no difference-- as of course it cannot, since you don't have an HSV infection.
You do not have genital herpes or herpes of the hands, and never did. If your symptoms continue to bother you, continue to follow up with your dermatologist.
Good luck-- HHH, MD