I'm a 35 year old male, HSV-1 positive. I have had two oral cold sores, but nothing genital until this story began:
6 weeks ago I had sex with a woman who told me she had just been tested for everything and was clean.
We used a condom but also performed oral sex on one another. For the finale she asked me to ejaculate on her, so I removed the condom and obliged, masturbated (with a hand whose fingers had been inside her earlier) until I climaxed.
About 10 days later, my foreskin started feeling sensitive and a bit raw (FYI I am circumcised). It seemed a bit more moist, sticky, and shiny than normal, but otherwise nothing. This lasted about a week.
Then I woke up one morning after masturbating the night before, and saw 3-4 small, faintly red spots on my penis. Upon closer examination they were areas of very minor inflammation surrounding tiny (almost invisible) cracks in the skin around 1-2mm in length each.
I considered atypical herpes but also (upon some compulsive web reading) also balanitis. There didn't seem to be anything to swab, so I did not to go to an MD. I began to treat with lotrimin cream to see if my symptoms improved. They did improve after several days. The cracks disappeared and the stickiness subsided.
However another week later, the sticky/raw foreskin was back. This time I went to the MD. Like me, he couldn't see a damned thing. He told me to cease all "penis activities" for a week or so, which I did. Also went back to the Lotrimin cream.
Feeling better, 12 days ago I masturbated vigorously and noticed a raw pain sensation just below the frenulum of my penis. This is the area where the elastic foreskin skin joins together into many fine folds. Like a turkey neck :-)
Spreading those folds apart, I saw a cluster of TINY bumps/blisters. Each bump less than 1mm diameter...maybe like a pin head. So small, they could only be seen if I spread the skin very taught and caught the light just right. However they were definitely there, and not hair follicles or other normal skin features.
I marched back to the MD and showed him. He wasn't sure if he saw anything at all, and was certainly not convinced that I had herpes. He mentioned the excruciating pain and other hallmarks of a typical presentation. He suggested I get a test when I return home in a few weeks (currently traveling).
Well, for the 12 days since I discovered them, those bumps/blisters have remained about the same. They have not grown, or receded, or burst. No real redness - maybe a tiny bit pinker than the surrounding skin. Aside from a bit of raw feeling, they have not been causing me much discomfort. Occasionally I've had some discomfort with urination, at the very tip of my penis.
When I return home I plan to get tested for all STDs including HSV-2 (I realize this could be genital HSV-1, but it seems too late for a swab test). In the meantime, I'm spending way too much time thinking about this.
If this is herpes, my case seems quite atypical.
Have any of you healthcare professionals, or HSV hosts, known herpes to behave this way? Or do you maybe suspect balanitis or another STD?
Thanks!