I live in India. My family and I have NO history of cold sores. In Nov 2024 I had my first sexual experience, in a massage spa. I went expecting only a HJ, but worse happened. She had no clothes on I didn't too. Did risky things: rubbed my penis on TOP of her butt for 2 min, and for the riskiest thing (unprotected) of all that has worried me for months: she gave me a thighjob while on top, (penis between her thighs and squeezing to and fro), NO memory/idea if it rubbed against her genitals in process. (important). Got 2 more spa encounters since then, one in Dec, and one in early Jan 2025, both of these were just HJs. Jan I got red dots/bumps on my glans and freaked out, went to see dermas, they were not worried about hsv, but i insisted swab. Swab -ve. Feb got igg tests, hsv1 2.5 and hsv2 4.0 (RU/ml) with value <16 negative. Red bumps keep coming every 10 days and going in 1 or 2. March test: igg: hsv1 0.75, hsv2 0.34, with negative <0.8. hsv1 is HIGH -VE and am worried about ghsv1

I hear that you are worried about having acquired HSV 1 through these sexual encounters, but nothing that you did put you at risk for HSV 1 in these sexual encounters.  HSV 1 genital infection is almost always related to receiving oral sex from someone who has HSV 1 oral infection - this was NOT you and your tests are negative.   Yes, the HSV 1 is a higher negative, but without a family history of cold sores and only this sexual experience, I think it likely represents a true negative.---

I wasn't worried about hsv too much until one day I decided to look at a video online of how a thighjob looks like. Unfortunately in the videos they depict intense rubbing close to the vagina (though I personally thought my experience was her squeezing with thighs only, when I asked her at the end what she was doing (i was worried) she touched in between my thighs to indicate, not touching my crotch so presumably lower but I don't trust her, although i feel like pressure was on the sides and not on the top of penis indicating that there was a gap). After seeing the online videos, and with the Nov memory fading, and the red dots recurring, I have panicked thinking the videos show what happened, and my penis actually was rubbing against her vagina. Let's go with the worst scenario and say that my thigh-thing for 2-3 minutes included rubbing of genitals. Unfortunately I wasn't aware of the existence of herpes (I am a young guy, early 20s, never even kissed) so I wasn't paying attention for two months to look out for herpes signs. Only after I got the red dots on glans after the Jan handjob (6 days later) did I get to know about this horrible disease. I have studies going on and this herpes has disrupted and cast a shadow on my life (always at the back of my mind). I have read your Westover heights forum posts, reddit, etc. and a single encounter transmission is unlikely, but I feel like I have caught it, and I missed symptoms in Nov-Dec because I wasn't checking or paying attention. I respect your expertise, Terri Warren, but it would help if some other voice also weighed in on the matter. Thank you.

Herpes doesn't present as red dots, it presents as sores that start like water blisters that break open, make an ulcer, scab over and the scab then falls off.  this is not what you are reporting.  I don't think you have HSV, based on your experience and the symptoms that you are presenting.---

Yes, I have never had any blister or ulcer (I guess that means a break in the skin, or exposed skin layer) of any sort. What I have seen were red spots, limited to the glans and inner foreskin (uncircumcised) that come like every 2 weeks and fade away in 24 to 30 hours. Aa I said I had got my glans pcr swabbed (around the time of one of these episodes) once at a university hospital, which turned out to be negative; I was worried then that I might be a rare case who has milder hsv outbreaks with no fluid presence (hence the lack of blisters). 

P.S.:

No, I don't think so, I believe you would have noticed.  Balanitis is normally caused by a fungal condition, very common in men who have a foreskin.  ---