PLEASE, ANY ADVICE

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ok...so here's the deal...a couple of months ago I developed a bad rash on my lower shaft right before the scrotum...I was in denial...let it heal for a bit and then it came back as a small red patch of blisters. It's been there for months! Over this time period...I've seen two doctors and I'm on my way to seeing a third. Both times, the doctors 100% guaranteed me that it WAS NOT genital herpes or any STD. Yet the patch on my penis has been there for months...and usually after sex...or randomly, they will get red...when they are not red...they are just a patch of little bumps that are hardly visible on the bottom shaft of my penis.I don't know what it is. I don't really demonstrate any other visible signs of herpes...it's not like they puss up and burst or anything, they don't really itch, they're just...there...and it's slightly pink to red sometimes which is scary looking. I'm convinced that it's Genital herpes even though my doctors are convinced that they arn't...because they have been there for months. My girlfriend, the only love of my life wants to start going on birth control and I'm freaking out taht she's going to leave me. I just want to know! Please...any advice, answers, questions, I'll be so grateful.

You have to have faith in your doctors. If they todl you it's not herpes than believe that. They are not going to lie to you and trust me they are going to know more about herpes than anyone on this board.

Get your third opinion if you like and if this doc says it's not an STD, start another route with a doctor to find out what it is than. Could be nothing more than a simple rash, especially if you shave around the shaft.

i know i know...i'd love to believe my doctors...it's just...ya know? it's my own penis...and having a redish pinkish patch of small little bumps at the end shaft of my penis can get me really self-conscious...it never goes away it just stays in that same spot...sometimes hiding kinda, sometimes a little reddish...i also have the feeling that when I saw the doctors...(if it is herpes) it might have been in the latent stage where no cultures or physical test results could be preformed cause at that EXACT time period I wasn't demonstrating signs...but then once I levae the doctors office...its like they spring up again ya know? haha like they have a mind of their own and only look bad when I'm not around doctors. it sounds weird. but yeah...I'm going to get this third checkup and fill him in on everything.its just this thing on my penis has been messin with me too long, it's like taking over my life and making me depressed...ughh...arright sorry...any more suggestions or advice is welcome.(btw, i don't shave in that area, I've tried applying creams like hydrocortizone, and cortaid, it doesn't really make it go away...and then I might have an itch sometimes at that spot sometimes elsewhere on my penis...I just don't know if that's a normal penis itch that every guy gets every so often)50% of me is convniced that it IS herpes, while 50% of me is in denial...believing that it's just a small skin irritation or some sort of fungus that is just not going away...I don't really have any pain in the area...they don't puss up and bleed...they don't look AT ALL like the online pictures of herpes or other STD's [even though self-diagnosis for herpes is never a good idea] so...i don't know...)any suggestions, further questions, comments...please feel free.

> it never goes away it just stays in that same spot...sometimes hiding kinda, sometimes a little reddish

That doesn't sound like herpes at all.

Are any of you doctors dermatologists?

Are any of you doctors dermatologists? Took the question from my lips LoL.

i have no idea...they were the doctors up at school...I went twice during the last few months of school...now that I'm home for summer...I've made plans for seeing another one nearby.

If you're so concerned, I suggest you search the Web for information on herpes and other skin conditions. And if you're not seeing a deromtologist, you're wasting your time.You can start with the CDC's Genital Herpes Fact Sheet .

i also noticed a faint small patch of redness just above my initial area...it's hard to notice...from eyes to penis view...it just looks like a pink patch...but looking reaaaallly close it's a small cluster of tiny pimples. sometimes you can't see it at all, sometime's if you touch it and irritate it, it gets a little pink...idk if I"m being overly paranoid or I really am demonstrating symptoms of something.

Skin things are hard to diagnose, and they're certainly hard to diagnose on a message board.Just make sure you are seeing a dermatologist.

OK...soooo three days ago...I went to a dermatologist who seemed very experianced...he took a look at my little lesion...and said that my bumps were normal...I complained that for some reason every time i manage to see a doctor...the lesion sort of looks "presentable" and "harmles" and that it looks nothing compared to how it is when it's red and enflamed.He continued to chuckle and say that whatever it was was MOST DEFINETLY NOT a vennerial infection (I'm guessing STD?) and he prescribed me alcolave or something like that...suggesting that if it got red...it was perhaps a little bacterial infection. I felt finally relieved because an actual dermatologist checked it out and said it was all good.HOWEVER today, panic got to me again.I had a heavy night of sex two nights ago with my girlfriend...and today I looked at my penis...and the spot seemed to have three little red pimples on it... one of them looked almost as if there was a tiny miniscule opening at the top...(one of those pimple things that you pop on your face) but there were three of them...and they were reaaaaallly red and irritated looking...so i got completely scared...my day was ruined...and now I'm starting to doubt my third dermatologist.....I really dunno.Do these three pimples seem normal? or do you think I could have been asymptomatic coincidentally all three times i've seen doctors???i mean idk if i should go and check it out again, i was just at the dermatologist three days ago!the day is sort of coming to an end...and the pimples are less red and seem to be receding back into my skin again...but this fuckin shit just Boggles my mind. WTF is it? I've had it for three straight months, hiding and not hiding...how could it have not gone away by now??? It's really starting to get me depressed. please any advice is welcome... does this sound like the early stages of herpes or any STD? btw...these bumps dont hurt at all....they dont really itch unless i touch them, but their freaky looking. three little raised pimples one of them with a little hole in it dark reddish in color

It sure does not sound anything like herpes. Why do you think it might be that?

"Venerial disease" is the old-fashioned name for STD, which seems to be getting replaced by STI.

If I were you, I would contact the doctor and ask him if you can e-mail him a photo, take a digital photo of the area as close-up as you can, and send it to him. It sounds like it may be a bacterial thing, but that's just a guess on my part. I'd be a lot more confident in what the dermotologist thinks than what I think.

arright so i took your advice SteveA and actually noticed..on two of the red pimples...a strand of pubic hair is coming out of the middle...would I be safe to say its almost definetly not an STD?

Yes, and it sure sounds like a pimple. If it walks like a pimple and quacks like a pimple, it is probably a pimple.If it pops, that antibiotic ointment (which I've never heard of) may be helpful.

I mean I guess they're pimples...but it's weird as hell cause they nevvver go away!I mean I don't think it could be herpes cause herpes usually hurt swell up then scab over and heal...my condition kinda has these little white bumps by the bottom of my shaft right above my pubic hairs that kinda recede back into the skin and "hide" for a day and then I might ahve sex or for some random reason they'll come back up a little red...I don't think they could be warts because warts are skin colored and "califlower" looking.Plus...I have a friggen tiny miniscule pubic hair coming out of one of the bumps.If they're pimples or hair follicles i don't know what they are...they just don't go away...some parts of the day they'll be reddish on teh skin around the little white spots. but other parts of the day they'll be skin colorish. I do have sex with my gf a lot...but its a long distance relationship and we only see each other about once a week...WTF are they and what can I do to get rid of them? I've seen three doctors...they've all prescribed me hydrocortizone, acolylate or some cream like that, cortaid...etc....they have all failed to make these things go away....I don't know!!I'm freakin out. It's been there for THREE months...I don't want these things to be on my penis forever!

Go to the Male Anatomy (Please read this first) thread tacked to the top of the Male Genitalia forum, go down to where it says:In reply to:These are the perennially-worried-about sebaceous glands. You have these glands all over your body. Generally you will see then on the penis shaft and the scrotum. They produce sebum, which is a white greasy gunk that acts as a natural moisturiser for the skin, keeping it supple. They mostly discharge into hair follicles, and are usually buried under the skin so you can't see them, even when they get bigger, as they do, during puberty. However, the skin on the genitalia is thinner, and so they often become visible there at puberty, and people worry unnecessarily. They are normal.Click on "Sebaceous glands on shaft" and see if the photo matches.The end of the post says:In reply to:Sebaceous glands, Pearly Penile Papules(PPP) and Fordyce Spots are all normal and harmless.They do not go away and they can not be removed (unless you want to burn them off).They are not a sexually transmitted diseases and are not infectious.They are all normal variations of the human body

yes they match for the most part...except i only have two of them that are visible right above the pubic hair on the left side of my shaft. you have to stretch the skin in that area to see tiny smaller almost invisible ones around it. the rest is all with the pubic hair section of my penis the skin. the one weird thing is that the skin around them is pink often...however sometimes, it can be just normal skin color.and how come in that photo in the male anatomy post...they are ALL over the penis..whereas mine are only towards the bottom left side of my shaft.like i said i do have sex a lot...but even days after, they area might get a little pink or red...and then hours later recede and kinda hide...Why does it always get red ONLY in that area?still sound safe?

Sebaceous glands are often only visible in some areas.

thatts a bit more relieving...and I'm sorry to be a pestbut the REDNESS THE REDNESS, what is that??? no one seems to have a solution for that... three diffreent doctors have prescribed me three different topical creams and all fail to make this pink coloration in the skin go away. It doesn't even have to result from the friction of sex...sometimes at random times of the day I'll look at it and the sebacaus glands will have a slight pink coloration to them.I'm begining to think that's just how my penis color is usually down there. I mean it sucks if it has to look this way forever, it's not exactly the most pleasing site on my penis. oh well, my gf never notices it.

If your GF doesn't notice it, then you are blowing this all out of proportion and making a big deal out of nothing.