Red Bump on Penis

[bing84]

I have a red bump on my penis on the top right side about 1/2 way up my shaft. Where the red bump is located there is a line across the shaft of penis papules and it seems like one of them just became irritated and slightly raised. This has happened once or twice before. The red area has never resembled a blister like lesion or has burst to form a scab. The slightly raised bump usually subsides within 3-5 days, with it lasting longer if i poke and pick at the area. Im kind of a hypochondriac. The bump that is there now is the same papule where the other irritated area was. There is no pain or tenderness when touching the area and it is non responsive to hydrogen peroxide. The area that is currently there has been there for 3 days and is almost gone away. My last potential exsposure was almost a year ago(11 months) with a one time partner who is also a friend I had talked to before and after whether there was anything for me to worry about and she adimantly denied it. I still keep in touch with her and she has never alluded to any stds. I'm a 21 year old white college male and the partner was a 20 yr old white college female, im not sure if this affects the demographics of stds or not.

My questions are this:
1) What are the chances that these slightly raised areas that don't burst or form scabs could be herpes?

2) Is it possible that I contracted herpes from this one time low risk encounter?

3) Would you advise testing?

Thank you Doctor.

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

On the one hand, the description of the lesion certainly is not typical of herpes, for the reasons you mention (no blister-like lesion, no ulceration, etc).  On the other hand, herpes is the most common cause of recurrent inflammatory genital lesions.

1) Therefore, I cannot judge the numerical risk that you do or don't have herpes.  It is possible.

2) Of course it's possible, but based on  your partner's response to your question, it seems unlikely she has herpes.  But I have no way to know whether she understands the disease, realizes that people without symptoms can have it, or what her sexual risks might have been in the past.

3) You can either just go have an HSV blood test now, or wait for the next recurrence of a lesion and see a herpes-knowledgeable health care provider immediately (within a day).  Most student health services have plenty of experience with herpes and other STDs; they should be able to accurately figure out what is going on.

Good luck--  HHH, MD

[bing84]

Doc,
I should also note that after that time last year I never experienced an initial outbreak of blisters or anything resembling herpes. The raised area that occured before happened 3 months after I was intimate with her. I should also note that the intercourse was brief about 2-3 minutes unprotected before i stopped and realized what i was doing.

[bing84]

I don't understand how if there was not any initial outbreak of herpes within the incubation time frame that this could be attributed to that. I was hyper aware and paranoid during the 20 days to a month following the incident and would have noticed any abnormalities. Also isn't the risk for a one time encounter extremely low of catching the disease. I believe you have said around one in a couple of hundred? Finally, aren't more/ if not most cases of hsv2 acquired in people in their thirties?

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

If you are so sure you don't have herpes and so prepared to argue against the possibility, why did you ask in the first place? I agreed your symptoms are atypical, for the reason you state.  But I also pointed why herpes is a possibility.  

Your thinking is illogical.  The risk is low for any given sexual expsoure, but the fact is you have symptoms that could be herpes--so no matter how low the chance might have been, it is possible you were one of the unlucky ones.  And plenty of people get herpes in their teens and 20s.  Saying most herpes occurs in people in their thirties and don't have it because you're younger is like a 60 year old saying his or her chest pain can't be a heart attack because most people with coronaries are over 70.

Stop trying to come up with a definitive answer from me or any other online source.  It isn't going to happen.  Follow my advice to question no 3.

HHH, MD

[desperatelyseeking]

It sounds like it may be a yeast infection but you should get tested just to reassure yourself and any future partners.  I'm interested in finding out the results. If you are diagnosed to have herpes, it is not the end of the world.

[don'tknowwhattodo]

this started almost two weeks ago and i want to go to the doctor but i seem to neither have the time nor the money I had been staying over at my gfs house and it seemed every time i was over there at night lying in the bed i would be verry itchy in different parts of the body mainly legs and waist area there were no visibale bites or anything and i wasn't sure what it was i thought maybe a bed might or something but earlyer this week i started getting a severe itching on my penis and 2 days later developed a large bump on the underside of my penise its red and itched verry much and couldn't help but itch i washed vigerusly witch was no help and i still had itchy ness on other parts of my body mainly below the belt line legs uper arms butt anywere warm and tight kind of like a chiger type deal now at this point i have 3 bumps simaler to the one on my penise two in the waste area and one on the buttox but the one on my penise is still the largest and it now has a discomfort feel to the bump when it is touched but is no longer itchy but the genital area still itches after web research i feel the closest thing that this represents is scabies or herpes but herpes would not describe the rest of the itchiesness on my body but if i had scabies wouldn't she be showing symptoms? and is there anything i can do to lessen this  discomfort untill i can see a medical pro