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herpes in upper public hair region

hey there, ive a question about possible HSV

I visited a massage parlor and had protected oral/vaginal w/ a massuse there for maybe 6 minutes

roughly 6 days later I noticed a swollen lump in the fold between my left thigh and groin (possibly lymph?) and started feeling "off" like I was about to come down with a cold, this lasted for a couple days, and then i noticed an irritation at the tip of my penis and discoloration (redness/darkness) at the urethra. I felt like my body was trying to fight something off but I am not sure what it was

i started to get very anxious about STIs, and had loss of appetite, fatigue, and diarrhea for 4 or 5 days, other symptoms included an intermittent ache in my testicals and taint area, I attributed most of this to the anxiety I was under (and associated pelvic tension)

these symptoms subsided after about 2 weeks, and at 3 weeks I took a full STD panel and came back negative for everything (g/c/hsv1/hsv2/hiv/hep/etc), though I realize that would have been too early for some of the tests (including hsv), urinalysis did not have much abnormality except slightly elevated RBC and protein in urine (no bacteria found)

at no point did I experience any burning during urination (though my urine does seem darker and containing lots of bubbles), or obvious discharge, or obvious lesions on my penis, however at one point I did notice a group of 4 or 5 spots in the upper pubic region (where my pants would buckle) that were concerning

i have a bit of a belly so they were semi hidden, and it appears there was hair protruding from them, but I think at least one seemed to be a white oval shape before eventually rupturing and healing into darker red spot, i think I noticed them late so I am not sure if they were ever "blisters", or just ingrown hairs/folliculitis, and they've healed a lot in the past 2 weeks

i took these pictures when i noticed them, https://imgur.com/a/2M7N2Cl (let me know if pictures are not allowed and I will remove this) but i cant say it was when they first appeared

mostly I am curious if anyone that ended up HSV positive had similar experience? I know the infected spot is noy typical for HSV, but I found a couple threads where people reported a similar infection site but did not note any accompanying symptoms or have any pictures

currently I am in a holding pattern for 2 months so that I can re-test at 12 weeks to be sure

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207091 tn?1337709493
COMMUNITY LEADER
It's hard to say what the spots are. As you know, it could be folliculitis, or MRSA, staph, or a host of other things. It's unfortunate that you didn't get them cultured when they were fresher, because you could have a better chance of getting an answer.

The chance of getting herpes from an all-protected encounter is very low - maybe 1 in 10,000, especially if the whole thing lasted 6 minutes.

It would also be unusual for you to have symptoms in multiple places like this. Herpes typically (though not always) appears at the point of infection. To get sores on your belly like that would be highly unusual since that skin is too thick for the virus to penetrate.  It's much easier on the mucus membranes, like your penis, anus, etc.

If it's where your pants buckle, I wonder if you have a new pair of pants or a new belt? Maybe you have an allergy to something in the metal on the belt buckle, snap or zipper on your pants. Perhaps it's an older item, and the coating on the metal item is wearing off, and exposing you to the metal underneath it.

I'd be very surprised if this is herpes. I think a lot of your symptoms could be anxiety.

If you get more bumps, get in to get them cultured as soon as you see them. If it's folliculitis, you may need an oral antibiotic or an antibiotic cream.

If you decide to get another herpes test, wait until 12 weeks. There is a decent chance of a false positive, and the more you take, the higher the chance that will happen. It takes weeks, lots of money and untold stress to unravel that. If you are anxious now, really, really consider it before doing more testing. A culture is a better idea if you get more symptoms, as those don't have false positives.



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thank you for the input
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