I had bumps appear in a line just below the head of my penis about 10 days ago.  Started as white blisters and have mostly scabbed over, except a few that seem to be on a different timeline in terms of their stage. They look like white blisters still, and appeared as the others were already scabbing. I experienced a good amount of discomfort from days 3-7, today is day 10 and the blisters that are scabbed over are not really bothering me.  Symptoms have been swollen lymph nodes on both sides of groin, itching/burning of bumps, and back pain. I had only had sex with one other person prior to marriage, this would have been 3-4 years ago. I had no reason to believe that she had HSV. We were young and both virgins/had very limited sexual encounters prior to our relationship. I went to my doctor on Monday and was given a blood test, both HSV 1 & 2 results were both <.91. Doctor is telling me to go see a dermatologist, they are not sure what it is, but convinced it is not HSV. My question is this, would it be possible for me to have contracted HSV  from a relationship 3-4 years ago where we had unprotected sex sporadically over the course of a couple of years? The symptoms seem to line up really well with HSV, so well that it has really been giving me anxiety. The history just does not make sense though,  it has been rather confusing and frustrating. I fear that it is too far advanced for a culture to do any good as there are only a couple that are still in blister form. Should I go get another test of some sort? Looking for peace of mind at this point. My wife and I have been married 2.5 years. Neither of us have had cold sores or any type of genital rash since we have been married. Is it possible my wife is a carrier somehow? She also has had limited sexual interactions prior to marriage.  I don't see how it could have been dormant in either of us and just now surfaced, especially given our low sexual activity prior to marriage. Thank you for your help!!

If there are still blisters, you need to have them swab tested right away for herpes.  And you want PCR or NAAT, not culture anymore.  It is definitely possible that your wife is a carrier of either virus and doesn't know it.  HSV 1 genitally recurs very infrequently and could be the cause of your situation.  The IgG test misses 30% of HSV 1 PLUS you tested too soon for an accurate answer.  If by some chance, your wife gave you this just recently (and yes, that is certainly possible) you would not yet have antibody o the blood test.  Has she been tested?

Terri

It is possible that the waxing is related in some way to these lesions on your penis. 

The lack of a positive antibody test is not related in some way to you or to your wife but rather to lack of sensitivity of the test itself.  This could apply to you and/or your wife. 

It isn't necessarily true that the antibody results are in direct relationship to how long you've been infected.  Yes, sometimes people with new infection can take a few months to make antibody but it is also true that the test just isn't great for HSV 1 in particular, compared to the gold standard herpes western blot.  Symptoms or lack of symptoms do not impact test accuracy, no. 

Your wife could have had HSV 1 since childhood.  Is she the giver of oral sex to you?

The other option of course is that this isn't herpes though your description of the lesions is concerning to me.  If you get anything else that looks like this, please go right in to be swab tested.  BTW, PCR can pick up virus from scabbed lesions - it is a very sensitive test.

Terri

The western blot should be done 12 weeks after the concerning encounter.  Since condoms reduce the risk of transmission by 96%, I think resuming sex with your wife with condoms would be OK (in line with that statistic).  I am assuming she knows what's going on here? 

If they do a PCR swab of a scab and it is negative, that should NOT be definitive - only definitive if positive.

Terri