nerve damage?

[lexy1171]

Dear Dr.
About 11 months ago I kissed and recieved unprotected oral sex from a woman who I later found out was hsv 1 & 2 positive. I had symptoms of discomfort after the exposure and was put on an antibiotic for the penile discomfort. I have been extremely concerned about herpes and I have tested 4 weeks, 4 months and 7+ months post exposure with type specific IgG test all negative for HSV 1 & HSV 2. I am very confident I do nto have HSV2 but it is the HSV 1 I am wondering about.

It is now about three+ months ago I had a sore on my upper lip line which became very inflamed and tingled too. I squeezed it which is always a no-no. puss came out which led me to believe it was a pimple also the last IgG test was 4 weeks after the sore. The problem is there everyday and I mean everyday the area where this thing was seems to be highly sensitive. It is almost like a numb like feeling maybe a slight tingling. ...but it comes and goes. Could I have caused nerve damage to the area? and if so would the pain come and go as it seems to be doing on a daily basis. Sometimes it appears to get red and others it just looks like the rest of my skin. I also noticed on both corners of my mouth I have what appears to be angular chelitis.... this has been present for about 10 weeks. what can I do to get rrid of this and would this cause the numbess and other nerve pain I believe I am experiencing.

The spot when it was there never blistered and I had to squeeze it really hard to express the puss from it. It was very painful and uncomfortable. I took about 2 weeks for it to heal.

I would think my HSV testing would be conclusive.  Gace in the herpes forum even thought that as well. I am wondering about the sensitivity and if this could be angula chelitis?

[lexy1171]

So I took your advice and did some further testing. Since there is no sore to swab or culture I had a westen blot test done by the University of Washington and it came back negative for HSV1 & HSV2. I feel very confident I do not have HSV2. It is the fact that the serological test may miss 10-15 % of the HSV1 infections. I had this test around 300 days post exposure to HSV1 and 98 days post whatever this thing was on my lip (14 weeks). I continue to get a numbing sensation/coldness which is consistantly located in the area of this pimple/sore on my upper lip this has been this way for 17 weeks. The strange thing is I continue to have this same feeling in my thigh, genital area  predominately (95%) on my right side. What else could be causing these sensations. My skin in this area is very sensitive to my clothes. I do not see any active blistors or lessions. I do have folliculitis I have had that on my thighs before I was ever sexually active and I still have it today some 25 years later.

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,
From the symptoms the possibility of HSV 1 sore cannot be denied but it does not persist for so long. The other possibility is of any cyst. Pain, burning, tingling, or itching occurs at the infection site before the sores appear. Then clusters of blisters erupt which break down. You need to get some investigations like sample from the sores to identify the virus, culture analysis, Tzanck smear, antigen and antibody studies and blood sampling for antibody studies done to confirm the diagnosis. My sincere advice would be to consult a dermatologist.

It is very difficult to precisely confirm a diagnosis without examination and investigations and the answer is based on the medical information provided. For exact diagnosis, you are requested to consult your doctor. I sincerely hope that helps. Take care and please do keep me posted on how you are doing.