pimple or herpes?

odelia · Silver Member Joined: 21 Oct 2000 Posts: 268

I have this terrible thing on my groin…I don’t know what it is. At first I thought that was a pimple but now I think it might be herpes. How will I know is it a pimple or herpes?

katherina · Silver Member Joined: 26 May 2001 Posts: 285

Herpes is a viral infection. When the virus gets to your skin he starts to multiply. Skin becomes sensitive, red and very soon more blisters appear. That area is usually painful and itching, Flu symptoms are also common (headache, swollen glands…).Symptoms of herpes usually develops 3-15 days and it can last for several weeks. Those are typical symptoms for herpes and if you have them than it is herpes. With pimples there are no symptoms.

Guest · Guest

I just had to post this somewhere and maybe it will put your mind at ease as well. About a year ago, I was in the shower and found a small, almost wart-like bump in the area between my vagina and my anus. I immediately freaked out. I had been with my boyfriend for eight months at that point, 100% faithful, though not using protection, so I thought it a little peculiar that if I had gotten an STD from him, it hadn't shown up before.

I put off going to the gynocologist because the idea of being diagnosed with an STD of any sort scared the crap out of me. I even made a gyno appointment for the month following my discovery, and cancelled it out of fear.

Earlier this week, I had another bump appear on my left inner thigh. After 24 hours, it must have ruptured and went away. It never had time to get sore, I suppose. If you google the term "papule", I found that it most resembled this. Before I could even decide whether or not to worry about it, two days later, two more of the same papules popped up, this time about two inches apart and on my right inner thigh. By this point, I have been googling excessively STD's, and looking at every picture of both herpes and genital warts that I could find. I even had a very tiny wart-like bump still on my left inner thigh from about 6 months back. By some coincidence, I even had a yeast infection about a week before these three bumps appeared.

When I began reading about the STD's, I convinced myself that I either had herpes, genital warts, or a combination of both. Just about every website has a terrifying picture of the STD's, or it leaves little to no hope for anyone concerned by saying something like "but you could just get one bump, and have a very mild outbreak". This of course convinced me further that I had obtained an STD.

I shave down there only about once a month, which further convinced me that it couldn't be an ingrown hair or a razor bump. I convinced myself that the yeast infection that I had must have been the "tingling sensation" that one is supposed to experience prior to a herpes outbreak. It didn't matter that my wart from 6 months ago hadn't grown to become a cauliflower bunch of some sort, and it didn't matter that I would have had a herpes outbreak 2-14 days after initial contact, I was convinced. All the "mild" reactions, "symptom-less" possibilities with STD's, message boards, and other people's stories all freaked me out enough to give me the nerve to make a gynocologist appointment and have my two bumps checked out.

That was two weeks ago. My appointment was today. I'm so incredibly relieved to say that the doctor took one look at my bumps and said that it was definitely folliculitis, and that ingrown hairs had become infected. The wart-like bump from 6 months ago? A skin tag.

Of course, of the few times that I attempted to calm myself mentally for the last two weeks, it definitely crossed my mind that the bumps were pretty much where my butt creases with my thigh, and that friction/summertime/sweating may have caused some irritation, but Google had me thinking HERPES HERPES HERPES. I've slept with a good amount of people, and I've had unprotected sex with about four. I'm currently having unprotected sex with my boyfriend of two years (who has no bumps whatsoever but who has also been around the block), so I'm not coming to you with this information as a virgin or someone who has a small chance of obtaining an STD.

Because I was so worried, I just want to let everyone know there's a big possibility that what you may be worrying about is absolutely nothing. My bump wasn't a cluster, but it hurt. It didn't itch, but it oozed. No picture looked enough like it until I found a page that mentioned "papules", which truly represents what I had found. Hopefully I can put at least one person's mind at ease, even if it's just until their doctor's appointment, as I wish someone else could have done for me prior to mine. Hope this helps someone!

pimple or herpes?

LIFEFORM SOCIAL COMMUNITY NETWORK