What do you think?

[BabyBlueWhale]

Dear Doctor,

Last August I came back from a trip down south.  I arrived home on Thursday and shaved my pubic area with a beard trimmer. A day or two later when I was peeing, I noticed a bump maybe a little smaller than a mosquito bite on my pubic region where the hair grows.  I was really worried but i had a dr.s appointment at a dermatologist two days later anyway, so i figured i'd ask my doctor when i went to the appointment.  I squeezed at it a little and it felt hard and it seemed like there was pus inside of it.  The next day I walked around a lot, and at the end of the day i noticed that the pimple like bump had come to a head, then it popped and some pus came out and then some blood.  A scab formed by the time I saw my doctor.  I described my symptoms and time frame and he said that it was folliculitis.  He gave me some anitbiotics.  He looked at the scab under these gigantic magnifying glasses.  About two weeks later, the scab came off and I noticed a hair all twisted and curled around and stuck inside of the scab.  Now it is October and I am just really scared that maybe it was herpes.  This is because I read about folliculitis on your site and it seems like the symptoms last longer than mine, and herpes has a shorter time frame.  If folliculitis is caused by sweat, it does make sense because when I was down south I was traveling around a lot in an un-airconditioned car and my underwear was soooo sweaty that you could ring it out!  Anyway, I have had sexual intercourse with 12 different partners and I am a 27 year old white female.  It was unprotected with 3 men and once with another man the condom broke and then when we noticed, we stopped having sex.  I have been tested for all the major STDs and HIV and I am ok, and so is my partner whom I have been with for a year and a half.  So, do you think it is herpes?  I am scared.  Thanks so much for your time.  Please get back to me soon.

Sincerely,
scared

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

It doesn't sound like herpes to me.  But more important, the opinion of any online doc, including me, is less valid by far than that of a dermatologist who has examined you. If he was confident it was folliculitis, you can rely on it.  Folliculitis isn't caused by sweat, but it is more common in moist/sweaty areas of the body, and often can be triggered by trauma of the sort that occurs with electric razors etc.

You can know for sure whether you have HSV-2 infection, if you want to visit a health care provider who can order a blood test; but it doesn't sound particularly likely, based on your symptoms.

Good luck--  HHH, MD

[yoy]

I'm not a doctor, but it does not sound like herpes.  The curled up hair in the center suggests that it coud be an ingrown hair-Hair that grows into the skin will irratate the skin and cause a bump.  Once the hair is removed it would most likely clear up.  You also not a scab after you pooped the pimple.  There will be time for that to heal as well-Herepes sore do not generally look like a pimple- rather a blister (fluid filled bump).  Also, a herpes sores would noy always be associated withe a hair folicle.  They also tend to appear in clusters rather that a single pimple.  That being said, a great number of people have varring suymptoms even symptms that they see but don't recognize as herpes.  I would suggest that the Doctor would say that it is unlikely this is herpes, that he cannot diagnose over the internet and that if it concerns you gettted tested.