Maybe herpes? Maybe not?

[jacob941]

This all started 3 months ago. It all began when i woke up one morning and and noticed a small red ruptured bump with a few other tiny red spots on the head of my penis.  I went to a STD clinic and they ripped off the dried fluid from the one spot and took a sample for a herpes test. The test can back inconclusive because of some reason. A few days after I noticed my penis was soaking wet and the base of my penis head was swollen and oozing, no blisters just swollen skin that looked like the outerlayer of skin was peeling off like a sunburn with a clear liquid tinted with yellowish green liquid coming from the skin! I noticed the color when i swabbed it with tissue paper to keep it dry. (base being the ring around the bottom of my penis head) I took a Z pack and after the 5 days the base of my penis was back to normal. All the other little red spots went away within a few weeks and never grew or blistered. Occasionally i would notice a new red dot on my penis head and it would disapear in a few days without doing anything. However the one bump that did is still on my penis! It is a red raised bump thats hard to the touch, like a small plastic ball inside my skin. Now it goes though a cycle, it gets a little bigger and a the peak breaks and a tiny bit of fluid comes out and then its a raised bump with a depression in the middle, then it gets smaller and scabs to almost nothing for 10 days then it starts over again.Now the base of my penis head still swells and turns purple like its bruised and a  few tiny bumps appear on it, then it goes away after a day or less. I went to a dermatoligist and she said probally herpes. The STD clinic on the 2nd visit said no way it was herpes and gave me a antifungal cream which does nothing. I took a 10 day cycle of doxycilin which seemed to help but eventually the scab fell off and the cycle continued but without the skin breaking, now the scab just falls off, the bump gets red and larger then it hardens and scabs.

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Cysts which are not related to hair follicles can occur.  It is, of course, difficult to say what this might be without examining you.  If you wish to know what this might be, I think you need to see a health care professional. It is most unlikely however to be HSV.  Take care.   EWH

[jacob941]

Hey doc,

Thank you for you reply. The only problem is that there is nothing to scrape from the lesion, it is just a irritated bump on my skin now. It could be a follicle infection on the head of my penis? i thought that could only happen where hair was present, no hair on the head of penis, or anywhere near it. I believe the cyst comes from a hair follicle as well right? I dont have insurance and I dont have money for a surgery if it is a cyst. If it is one of those without hair follicles nearby, are there any at home remedys?

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Welcome to our Forum.  While genital HSV can present is a variety of ways, I doubt that what you are describing is HSV.  As you point out, the lesions you have experienced to not correspond to those of HSV (HSV lesions do not have the little pinhole at the top that you describe) and it in virtually unheard of for HSV to be present for such a long time.  Part of your dilemma is that you have STD Clinic Clinicians who feel that this is not HSV and a dermatologist who thinks it is.  While I tend to agree with the STD Clinic clinicians that you mention (acknowledging that my impression is based on your description and not a direct examination), what you need is a test to help sort this out.  The testing should be performed on the lesion, not as a blood test since even if you had a blood test which was positive for HSV-2, it would not necessarily mean that the lesion you describe is herpes.  

My impression is that this sounds more like a cyst or follicular infection than anything else. I hope this comment is helpful to you

EWH

[jacob941]

Also i forgot to mention and reached the word limit, but the raised bump has a pinhole in the middle and seems to have a little fluid coming from it but does not dishcharge. I had unprotected sex 2 weeks before this all began. I do get a tingling when i get worse again for a few minuted occasionally. No fevers or backpains,i do get headaches but probally from the stress of this. I was in central america for 3 months before it all began but the only a european sexual partner, occaionally unprotected sex. Only female partners as well. Also i went commando (no underwear) for 3 months while i was in central america. thank you Doc and i hope we can resolve this or at least progress, thank you.