Good Morning,
I am a 25 year old female experiencing one recurring cut/area of raw skin where my clitoris and left labia minora meet. Both my doctors and I thought it could be Herpes –but here is where the confusion begins. A brief history of my health:
Jan 2011 - diagnosed with high-risk HPV. Doctor runs full blood panel to check for anything else. Results:
Herpes IGM Positive for both 1 & 2, Herpes IGG Negative for both 1 & 2
As I’ve read here and other websites, the IGM test is mostly useless. Doctor told me to retest in 8 months to determine if it was a new infection or a false positive.
August 2011 – Retested for HSV – IGG test only. Negative for both 1 & 2.
March 2012 – Last sexual activity
December 2013 – I am continually bothered by an irritated area where my left labia minora meets my clitoris, under the clitoral hood. I go to an urgent care center where they immediately say “Herpes” – conduct swab testing and order HSV IGG blood test. Both tests return negative for both 1 & 2.
March 2014 – Normal Pap, HPV has cleared
Last week – I was experiencing this same feeling of an open wound on my clitoris. I took a look myself and it looked like a paper cut - there was a small area of open skin - so I scheduled an appointment with my gynecologist. Saw him on Tuesday, he took a look and said he'd do a culture for Herpes. I stopped him and asked that we not go through with the test, as I had already been tested so many times for HSV and have not been sexually active since 2012. I then showed him the blood test results from this past December. However, I am regretting stopping him from taking the culture. He would like to see me again in 3 weeks.
-Is it possible that I have a strain of Herpes that does not show on IGG testing? I have now had three IGG tests that have been negative. I’ve read that the IGG test looks for 2 proteins while the Western Blot looks for 14. Should I ask my doctor for that test?
-If you believe it isn’t herpes, what should my next step be? Should I get a biopsy taken?
Any insight that anyone could provide would be greatly appreciated. I really just want to figure this out. Thank you!