Have a bump on penis - What is it?

[sb43]

Hi

Thanks for the helping me out.  I am a 47 y/o male.  I have had two partners in the last 45 days.  In late Oct., I traveled to NYC/Manhattan and met a woman, went to the MET, out to dinner and to my place where we had a few minutes of unprotected oral and extended protected vaginal sex.  My second partner as a week ago with an RN friend - no oral and extended protected sex.  Protection in both cases was a condom.  In neither case did my partner have signs of oral herpes, etc.

On Sunday, I noticed a bump on the base of my penis (below where my condom would end so outside of the zone of protection).  It is about 3mm in diameter, red as from inflammation, no burning or itching, not painful - to the touch or just by itself, no sign of a head or blisters but its only been 4-5 days.  I have a picture I would like to send so you can see the bump.

My initial inclination is that it is either a mild herpes or an inflamed folacle.  The second is obviously good but the first isn't.  I know that it isn't the symptoms of "classic" herpes but I have read alot about how herpes is not ALWAYS classic and sometimes it can be mistaken for razor burn, etc in the mild cases.  Given that its still there after 5 days and hasn't gotten better (or worse for that matter), what is the chance it is herpes or another STD (syphilis)?

Also, since Christmas is coming and won't be getting to the doctors office for a few days, what should I look for if it is herpes - pain, blisters (should they have formed by now?), etc?

Thanks again and please let me know where I can send the pictures.

[Edward W Hook, MD]

these will need to be the final responses to this thread.

1.  Sorry, I won't guess on something I cannot see and examine.  As I said, the odds are quite low- less than 10%, perhaps less than 1% but I cannot be more precise.

2.  Rarely in persons experiencing thier first outbreak of HSV the virus can be spread from place to place but this is quite uncommon.  Beyond that, there is no reason for worry aobut spreading HSV to different sites on the body, on your hands or through other casual contact.

3.  Same answer.  HSV is not spread through indirect/casual contact but through DIRECT contact.  

EWH

[sb43]

Thanks again

[sb43]

Thanks for the info.  Looking again I would say that it is probably gone down by half instead of 75%.  Given no other symptoms of herpes other than just having a bump in the timeframe of being with someone, what chance do you see that this is not herpes?  90%? 99%?

Also, one thing I would like to ask that I think would be of general use to a lot of people since I couldn't find the answer any where.  The question is this - If this was/is hsv, what is the proper way for me to handle things to keep it from spreading and how easy is it to be spread to different parts of my body.  It is one thing to have a single bump but another to have this all over my genitals or anywhere else if that makes sense.  I always washed my hands after touching the area.  Is that sufficient?  Hand sanitizer?  If I touched it and accidentally touched say the head or tip of my penis, how easy is it to spread from that?

Also, on a related note, my daughter started college and her room mate has oral herpes.  How easy is that to spread between non intimate room mates?  Will it spread from using the same unwashed cup, fork, the same drinking straw?  I've never dealt with oral herpes at all so I am not sure how easy it is to spread from normal contact.

Thanks again!  PS Im an engineer and always ask questions lol

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Its unlikely that this is HSV.  I doubt there is any reason to test at this time. EWH

[sb43]

Do you still recommend testing?

[sb43]

Thank you Doctor!

I went to a family practice doctor on Monday and his reply was "It looks like an inflamed follicul but I could be proven wrong in a few days if a blister or the like develops". Well I am happy to say its been 4 days and no blister, head, pain, itchiness, flu symptoms, etc. Also in the last 12 hours it seems like its about 75% gone away.  Right now Im not sure I would really notice it if it had been this way all along.  What's the chance this is even a mild herpes if this is the case?

Thanks again and Merry Christmas!

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Welcome to our Forum. I'll try to help.  You have done a good job of describing what is going on and I congratulate you on your commitment to safe, condom protected sex- this will go a long way toward keeping you healthy.  

We do not accept pictures on this site.  We have tried to do this in the past and have found that there is no picture that can take the place of a direct examination and, in fact, we have found that pictures are more often misleading than not.  

As for what this might be, I think that your assessment is right on target.  My first guess, based on location and your description is that this is folliculitis.  If there is a hair coming out of or just next to the bump, then this makes folliculitis even more likely although even without a hair I suspect that this is what is going on.  You are also correct however the herpes can present "atypically' (more accurately, non-classically) and this could be this although it really does not sound like this.  The best way to address this is to have a trained professional take a look- either at a local STD clinic (they might be open today), by your own physician, or at a walk-in clinic.  In any of these locations, in addition to an examination, the test that you want is a swab test-i.e. either a culture or better yet a PCR test.  FYI and because some health care providers are unclear on this, the fact is that these tests can be done even if there is not a blister or open sore.  Also FYI, there is no role for a blood test in evaluation of a lesion of this sort at this time.

I hope my comments are helpful and provide some direction. EWH