Red spots on the underside of penis shaft

[Sinbad1977]

Hi.
I had a sexual encounter on New Year's Eve with a girl I met just that day.  Sex was protected but prior to that there was a lot of rubbing with penis and vagina involved (vagina was wet).  On the region where my penis contacted the vagina in a long stripe I have developed (over last couple of days) a lot of small red spots on my penis shaft.  They start just from top of scotum along to just underneath where my circumsicion begins at top of penis.

The spots are raised (like bobbly) do not appear crusty and are similar to the spots you normally have on a scrotum but are very red and pronounced.  They are not itchy and have no discharge and it does not hurt when I pass urine from tip, although tip has been only very mildy irritable today.

Does this sound like a potential STD today? Or something else?  Any advice much appreciated.

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Herpes can present in many ways.  What you describe however is in no way typical of HSV.  At the same time, if this is HSV, over a day or two the bumps could evolve into little blisters or sores.  EWH

[Sinbad1977]

Thanks for your speedy response.  Does herpes produce red spots as they don't appear like blisters and have any puss in them?  More just bobbly red spots, no puss etc.

Thanks

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Welcome back to our Forum.   It is now about 9-10 days after the fact and the raised lesions that you describe, as well as the timing do raise the possibility of herpes (again, sorry).  If there are no other sorts of exposures to irritants or other possible explanation (masturbation, with or without creams, etc), my advice would be to see a health care professional who can perform a HSV culture or, even better yet, a PCR test from the lesions using a swab.  Although many health care professionals are not aware of this, there does not need to be a blister or open sore present to take these tests and they are the very best possible way to find out if that is what is present.  Please do not take acyclovir before you are tested (it could interfere with the test results) and at this time it is just too early to benefit from a blood test.

Herpes is the main and most troublesome STD I would worry about. Another possibility which could fit this description would be a yeast infection. The timing is about right for this as well.

I hope this comment is helpful.  EWH