[Question #771] Could this be Herpes?

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104 months ago

Hi Doctor – Thanks in advance for your time and thought.  I was with a commercial sex worker a few weeks ago.  There was no insertive sex of any kind but she did grind on me for several minutes.  She was wearing panties the entire time but they were a meshy lace design so there was some skin to skin contact between the spaces of the mesh.

 

10 days after contact I discovered a single, slightly painful raised pimple between my butt cheeks.  It was not easy to monitor but it never broke down into small blisters and didn’t look like the classic picture of herpes I’ve seen online.  It always felt more like a solid pimple.   I’ve gotten pimples like this before on my butt and hips and they always take a long time to heal.  This was no exception – two weeks later it was a small red dot and fading.

 

2 weeks after the first pimple (or whatever it was) arrived, I’ve discovered a new slightly raised painful red bump.  This one right on the crest of the butt cheek.  A day after I discovered it, it’s no longer a pimple but looks like a small healing sore (maybe it popped?).  Pretty much this looks like a smaller version of the what happened to the first pimple but just looks to be running its course faster.

 

A few key points – my rear end never came in contact with the sex worker.  Also my butt is pretty hairy and the first pimple is in a zone with quite a bit of hair.  The second one less so.

 

So my questions – Could this be herpes?  I believe I’ve read on your Medhelp website that the first outbreak of herpes is pretty much always at the point of contact and my genitals are entirely clear of anything.

 

Thanks very much for your help.

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Terri Warren, RN, Nurse Practitioner
104 months ago
From your description, this sounds nothing like herpes to me.  In my experience, people who get herpes lesions on the buttocks have quite a longer and more difficult healing time than those who have the lesions genitally.  Normally, there are multiple water blister at the same time.  Because the buttocks skin is so much thicker than the genital skin, there are more layers of skin to heal, it takes longer and the whole process is more extensive. If you look at the bottoms of people who have recurrent buttocks herpes, you can definitely see scarring from previous outbreaks most often.  What you describe sounds nothing like that.  In addition, you are correct, when we see new herpes, we normally see new outbreaks in the location of exposure, not a non-genital site such as the buttocks in your situation.  In addition to THAT, the contact that you describe, even with lacy panties, does not sound risky to me.  Honestly?  I think you are perfectly good here.  Congratulations on practicing safer sex with this experience.

Terri
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104 months ago
Thank you nurse Terri!  As embarrassing as is this to admit, I actually just photographed a picture of my rear end using a flash to get a better look.  I'm a little reluctant to self-diagnose, but I  think what i have may be foliculitis (sp?)  With the illumination of the flash I can actually see what look like hundreds of tiny pale red dots all over my backside, relatively evenly spaced like hair follicles (thankfully you can't really see these ugly spots with the naked eye under normal light).  Many of the dots have hair growing out of them which I know is not the case with a Herpes blister.  And there are none of the blister clusters that I've seen in online pictures of Herpes.  But thank you so much for your reply.  It has really helped to calm my nerves.  Honestly, I don't really have a follow up question except to say thank you, thank you, thank you.
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Terri Warren, RN, Nurse Practitioner
104 months ago
You are most welcome, Peter.  Yes, maybe folliculitis or just a simple pimple.  So glad you are feeling better.
Terri
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