Strange persistant skin activity --- herpes? Staph?

[edphy]

For the last 2 and 1/2 months (mid february '08 - no end in sight), I have had lasting outbreaks of different sorts around the base of my *****. This is the first time I have experienced such an outbreak, although I cannot confirm that I have never had similar very mild outbreaks in the past. This situation is quite unique, however, and obviously bothersome. I will now describe to the best of my ability all aspects of my 'condition'.

Initial symptoms:
- Pimple-like thing, which looked, to the best of my knowledge, like a large whitehead that one might get on his face. Not on *****; in pubic region.

• Pimple had very minor, isolated skin inflammation
• No pain, itching, or irritation associated
• At about the same time, two red dots, looking like ordinary folliculitis appeared in different spot near ***** base
• I popped the main "whitehead", and let out some liquid, which I believe was clear but do not recall exactly. I did this a second time as well, being that the thing re-filled. This happened no more than a few days following the first popping.

At first I was not concerned, but I began to notice more, extremely minor dotish-things around *****, and investigated online. I immediately became frantic about herpes, being I had sex with a few girlfriends unprotectedly. My current girfriend goes to school literally 1000 miles away from me, so we barely get to see eachother, but when we do, we have tons of unprotected sex. As far as I know we are both monogamous. She also has a recurring staph infection, which has shown up on different areas of her body.

So not to digress, I went to a health center near my university where they specifically test for STDs. I have a visual exam, and the nurse said she didn't think it was herpes, and that she would be very surprised if it was, although obviously a visual diagnosis isn't final. I had other main STDs tested for in blood and urine tests, which were negative. I then went to my family doctor to get another opinion and be tested. He visually said he didn't think so, but did a culture on the original 'whitehead' for both herpes and staph. At this point that pimple-like thing was still obviously, but also appeared to me to be dried up. Both cultures came back negative, which left me just as lost, but trying to become hopeful. After a little while, I noticed an extremely small spot of little bumps on the side of the head of my *****, right where the shaft begins to form into the head. I believe this hardly noticable spot had been there at least since the very beginning, around the time I noticed the original pimple thing. Anyways, as time went on, my symptoms began to change shape slowly. The original pimple went away, but in its location there are still random little things going on, even today. Also, there was a very large (probably just about the size of a typical Ibuprofen pill, maybe slightly bigger) folliculitis-looking thing with fair inflammation around it, which was on my scrotum, close to my pubic area. This did not look like anything that I have ever seen anywhere near my *****, although it also did not look at all like a herpes lesion. It was rather strange, but had a distinct point where there was a hair attempting to grow, thus making me think of an infected case of folliculitis. This thing was alone, and was also not painful or anything. I want to say it that remained for just over a week. Since then, I continued to have some reddish pimple-like things, which do not hurt, or even tend to irritate me besides when i think too hard about them. These 'pimples' have stayed true to the spot where the original whitehead appeared, but there are also a few random ones, of different sizes and colors around my pubic region. I have not noticed anything very suspicious on the shaft of my ***** in hairless areas, with the exception of that one tiny spot tangent to my head which I spoke of earlier. That spot remains, and although it really is barely anything, it is been bothersome simply because it is the only thing I have noticed outside of where hair grows. It is also worth noting, for the sake of a staph infection, that I shaved the spot, and only the spot, where the original whitehead appeared back when I first went to the health center, and that may be the reason why that location has been persistant. I also have shaved my entire pubic region more recently to have a closer look at everything, and that could also possibly explain why the pimple things continue, since staph tends to come out after shaving near an infected region. My gf has been experiencing almost the same things I have, only she is convinced 100% that hers is staph, and also believes mine is. We have performed oral sex on eachother several times unprotectedly while these pimple things have been on our privates, and have experienced no signs of spreading to face, throat, mouth, etc. We also both have skin colored bumps which are quite small and are almost mixed in with the red dot things. Also, the very first symptoms appeared after we had sex in a jacuzzi that turned out to be quite dirty. I do not recall having anything from that, but I do recall my gf's symptoms first appearing on her at that time. She is certain that I also had these symptoms then as well, claiming I had a bunch of little red dots all over my privates (not shaft or head) right after that jacuzzi, although I do not remember noticing anything on me, which isn't a huge surprise. I have not had any lymph node swelling around my groin that I can notice, and I do know where they are and what not. I have had my glands behind my tonsils swell up, but that is something that happens to me several times a year, so it's not unusual at all, nor did it occur at the same time as the strange bumps. Also worth noting is the fact that this outbreak, if it is herpes, would almost not possibly be my first outbreak. If this is herpes, I believe that I would have had contracted it somewhere between 5 months and a little more than a month before this started. During this time period I suffered virtually no sicknesses, and was actually in better health than maybe any winter in memory. Lastly, I believed this to be staph when I discovered a hard white protrusion attached to the cartilage inside my left nostril. My gf immediately told me that this rather large (a tad smaller than your typical mardi gras bead) protrusion was definitely staph, being that she had one very much like it in the same spot which had to be drained during one of her staph infections. I showed the doctor, and he did not seem concerned, but did agree it was some type of staph, just not infected. I took some low antibiotics to try to hassen my recovery, but it did not appear to be very effective. I still have this thing in my nose today, and I tried to pop it, but it was quite hard, so I decided to wait til I leave school and can get my hands on a pin or something.

Well, thank you for reading all of this, I believe I have not left anything significant out. Basically, I have a strange assortment of whitehead, red, and skin colored bumps/pimple-like things around my pubic region, and doctors don't seem to know what it is, and I would really like to find out. Basically, if it's not herpes, I'm happy. I have done extensive research on STDs and herpes, as well as looked quite a bit into staph infections these last 2 1/2 months, but my condition doesn't seem to fit any criteria exceptionally well. Does anyone have any advice to offer or ideas? I need help on this situation. Thank you.

[Unregistered Amanda]

It sounds like you have a pseudomonas infection - red dots, occurred after hot tub. Sounds like pretty classic symptoms.

Stop shaving -- you get microscopic cuts on your skin and are spreading it.

Now, the flesh colored bumps sound like genital warts -- did you show your doctor that?

You need to go back and let the doctor know about the hot tub.

Good luck

[Monsterlove]

Sorry, I can't read that much info; you said when the doctor scraped the "pimple" it was dried up. I think you are correct; you need to get the scraping when it is still filled with fluid. People no longer need to "think"; they can run blood tests. Most likely, herpes if it comes and goes; moloscum if it stays all the time. Get a blood test for herpes 2 and syphilis. It could be warts, too, I suppose. So you spread it to your girlfriend but you still don't think it's an STD? She should get a pap for hpv and blood work for herpes/syphilis.

[edphy]

It seems that I do not have herpes, since I have gotten another negative swab, this time thorough. I also was negative on both the HSV1 & 2 blood tests, and I have certainly had it long enough for antibodies to show up. My immune system was tested to be normal, and it seems I may not have staph either. Also, my symptoms are less and less like that of a herpes infection. My red dots are showing up pointing outward, almost sharply. The nurse did tell me that they found a bacteria on one of my swabs that they aren't used to seeing on skin, so that's rather interesting . I appreciate the thoughts Monsterlove and Amanda, I will continue to investigate my now 3 month long outbreak. It is worth noting that the infection continues to avoid my ***** itself. I will post again when I have more information.

[Monsterlove]

it could be molloscum, then, but keep it in mind that there are false negatives in the herpes blood tests results and that your blisters were too dried up for a swab, unless the new swab was liquid. It's really horrible to find out what you really have when a female tells you what she got; hope you find out. Are you seeing a dermatologist?

[Jacobo]

I've been through some of this ****: a few mysterious dots at base, after one life-shattering stupid 'pimple' on shaft that took WAY too long to die, and the **** nostril infection. If you are fortunate enough to have a considerate doctor, go before you 'get your hands on a pin!!!!' Impossible temptation to free your respiration, but most likely that's going to be a wretched time, and the thing(s) may recur several times. You may even cause an externally visible swelling of a nostril. In my case, the thing stopped reforming, and I thought I was healed, and started again in a few months. An antibiotic is probably the thing, but in my case I'm uninsured and poor. Nevertheless, just think of people in Bangladesh or Iraq, where this **** is barely noticed.

Isn't it frustrating, how little is understood about our bodies? Further, you'd think if you brought some new malady to the doctor and they DIDN"T know what to do, they'd ask, or that it would be an incredible opportunity to research and advance medical knowledge. But NO, they want your ****ing cash, so if they don't know what to do, move along, "it's not a big deal" (to the doctor).

[Unregistered]

For the last 2 and 1/2 months (mid february '08 - no end in sight), I have had lasting outbreaks of different sorts around the base of my *****. This is the first time I have experienced such an outbreak, although I cannot confirm that I have never had similar very mild outbreaks in the past. This situation is quite unique, however, and obviously bothersome. I will now describe to the best of my ability all aspects of my 'condition'.

Initial symptoms:
- Pimple-like thing, which looked, to the best of my knowledge, like a large whitehead that one might get on his face. Not on *****; in pubic region.

• Pimple had very minor, isolated skin inflammation
• No pain, itching, or irritation associated
• At about the same time, two red dots, looking like ordinary folliculitis appeared in different spot near ***** base
• I popped the main "whitehead", and let out some liquid, which I believe was clear but do not recall exactly. I did this a second time as well, being that the thing re-filled. This happened no more than a few days following the first popping.

At first I was not concerned, but I began to notice more, extremely minor dotish-things around *****, and investigated online. I immediately became frantic about herpes, being I had sex with a few girlfriends unprotectedly. My current girfriend goes to school literally 1000 miles away from me, so we barely get to see eachother, but when we do, we have tons of unprotected sex. As far as I know we are both monogamous. She also has a recurring staph infection, which has shown up on different areas of her body.

So not to digress, I went to a health center near my university where they specifically test for STDs. I have a visual exam, and the nurse said she didn't think it was herpes, and that she would be very surprised if it was, although obviously a visual diagnosis isn't final. I had other main STDs tested for in blood and urine tests, which were negative. I then went to my family doctor to get another opinion and be tested. He visually said he didn't think so, but did a culture on the original 'whitehead' for both herpes and staph. At this point that pimple-like thing was still obviously, but also appeared to me to be dried up. Both cultures came back negative, which left me just as lost, but trying to become hopeful. After a little while, I noticed an extremely small spot of little bumps on the side of the head of my *****, right where the shaft begins to form into the head. I believe this hardly noticable spot had been there at least since the very beginning, around the time I noticed the original pimple thing. Anyways, as time went on, my symptoms began to change shape slowly. The original pimple went away, but in its location there are still random little things going on, even today. Also, there was a very large (probably just about the size of a typical Ibuprofen pill, maybe slightly bigger) folliculitis-looking thing with fair inflammation around it, which was on my scrotum, close to my pubic area. This did not look like anything that I have ever seen anywhere near my *****, although it also did not look at all like a herpes lesion. It was rather strange, but had a distinct point where there was a hair attempting to grow, thus making me think of an infected case of folliculitis. This thing was alone, and was also not painful or anything. I want to say it that remained for just over a week. Since then, I continued to have some reddish pimple-like things, which do not hurt, or even tend to irritate me besides when i think too hard about them. These 'pimples' have stayed true to the spot where the original whitehead appeared, but there are also a few random ones, of different sizes and colors around my pubic region. I have not noticed anything very suspicious on the shaft of my ***** in hairless areas, with the exception of that one tiny spot tangent to my head which I spoke of earlier. That spot remains, and although it really is barely anything, it is been bothersome simply because it is the only thing I have noticed outside of where hair grows. It is also worth noting, for the sake of a staph infection, that I shaved the spot, and only the spot, where the original whitehead appeared back when I first went to the health center, and that may be the reason why that location has been persistant. I also have shaved my entire pubic region more recently to have a closer look at everything, and that could also possibly explain why the pimple things continue, since staph tends to come out after shaving near an infected region. My gf has been experiencing almost the same things I have, only she is convinced 100% that hers is staph, and also believes mine is. We have performed oral sex on eachother several times unprotectedly while these pimple things have been on our privates, and have experienced no signs of spreading to face, throat, mouth, etc. We also both have skin colored bumps which are quite small and are almost mixed in with the red dot things. Also, the very first symptoms appeared after we had sex in a jacuzzi that turned out to be quite dirty. I do not recall having anything from that, but I do recall my gf's symptoms first appearing on her at that time. She is certain that I also had these symptoms then as well, claiming I had a bunch of little red dots all over my privates (not shaft or head) right after that jacuzzi, although I do not remember noticing anything on me, which isn't a huge surprise. I have not had any lymph node swelling around my groin that I can notice, and I do know where they are and what not. I have had my glands behind my tonsils swell up, but that is something that happens to me several times a year, so it's not unusual at all, nor did it occur at the same time as the strange bumps. Also worth noting is the fact that this outbreak, if it is herpes, would almost not possibly be my first outbreak. If this is herpes, I believe that I would have had contracted it somewhere between 5 months and a little more than a month before this started. During this time period I suffered virtually no sicknesses, and was actually in better health than maybe any winter in memory. Lastly, I believed this to be staph when I discovered a hard white protrusion attached to the cartilage inside my left nostril. My gf immediately told me that this rather large (a tad smaller than your typical mardi gras bead) protrusion was definitely staph, being that she had one very much like it in the same spot which had to be drained during one of her staph infections. I showed the doctor, and he did not seem concerned, but did agree it was some type of staph, just not infected. I took some low antibiotics to try to hassen my recovery, but it did not appear to be very effective. I still have this thing in my nose today, and I tried to pop it, but it was quite hard, so I decided to wait til I leave school and can get my hands on a pin or something.

Well, thank you for reading all of this, I believe I have not left anything significant out. Basically, I have a strange assortment of whitehead, red, and skin colored bumps/pimple-like things around my pubic region, and doctors don't seem to know what it is, and I would really like to find out. Basically, if it's not herpes, I'm happy. I have done extensive research on STDs and herpes, as well as looked quite a bit into staph infections these last 2 1/2 months, but my condition doesn't seem to fit any criteria exceptionally well. Does anyone have any advice to offer or ideas? I need help on this situation. Thank you.

hmmm, I don't know if anyone will happen to read this seeing as its coming so late, but I have symptoms that match almost exactly what you are describing. I'm scared to death, did you ever reach a final diagnosis?

[Sham3R]

ye man i've had this happen too just went to get blood tests today its been going on for about 4days now and i've had staph on my knee so personally i've been treting it like staph keeping it clean, btw rubbing achol helps stop it from spreading