HPV or HSV or Something else?

[CuriousJ97]

I am a 22 year old male and I have had unprotected sex (mainly oral). I noticed that I had these small pimple like things on my testicles and underneath my scrotum. Also my testicles and beginning of the scrotum is very red compared to the rest of the skin. I went to a doctor to check it out and she said I had HPV and prescribed podofilox. I used that for 4 weeks but one of the pimples went away, so I went to get a second opinion and that Dr told me it was nothing and that I as 100% clean. Of course I felt happy at the moment but after that I started paying way more attention to my penis, and I noticed that I had a very small skin tag on the upper-center part of my shaft. After masturbation my head would have have this red rash on it that goes away but comes back. Also I noticed the side of my penis right underneath the head is reddish and the bottom part of my shaft looks moist.
Now my biggest two problems are that my 1st Dr did not sound very confident when she said I had genital warts and also the medication did not help at all. So that makes me question if I do have it??? But then my 2nd Dr said I did not have it and when I asked if I might have Herpes she said not to worry and that I will know when I have herpes but then I read online that people can have it and not even know. So that makes me question her credibility on this. I am flat broke and cannot afford to see a specialist, so I am mainly reading about this stuff online. I am trying my best to go see a dermatologist or another specialist but in the mean time it would be great if anyone had some information for me.
Thank you

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,
From the symptoms, these bumps don’t sound like herpes sores which presents as blisters which scab over. It can be HPV genital warts but it can be confirmed only after skin biopsy or presence of HPV antibodies. The skin growth on shaft of penis sounds like a skin tag and there is nothing to be done in that case. However for the redness and itchiness, wash your groin daily and then dry thoroughly by pat drying, not rubbing. Also wear cotton underwear and change them twice a day and do not share other people’s towels. Application of local antifungal cream (terbinafine, clotrimazole, econazole, ketoconazole, miconazole) will help.

But if the symptoms persist then a dermatologist’s evaluation will be the best.
Hope it helps. Take care and please do keep me posted on how you are doing or if you have any additional queries. Warm regards.

[CuriousJ97]

I forgot to add that the base and the side of my groin itches a lot. I also have two skin tags in the upper part of my groin and my Dr said it was just regular skin tags and not genital warts.