Question:
I'm going to call the clinic tomorrow, but i'm freaked out a bit right now.

I have a single red bump on the left side of the shaft of my penis, and it looks yellowish on top like a zit. I discovered it yesterday. seems about the same size as when i discovered it.

it doesn't hurt unless i touch it, then its slightly uncomfortable (like a zit) it doesn't itch.

Weekend before last i received unprotected oral sex from a girl i met a few weeks ago. I havn't been with anyone for several months since then. Havn't had vaginal sex since last april.

Reading some of these threads, I have a few questions:

1. The symptom for genital herpes from my research seems to be multiple red bumps or a rash on or around the penis. I'm not seeing this. One bump.

2. If this bump never opens or turns into a sore, how likely is it that it is herpes?

3. What test should I ask for, and how soon do you get results from the tests? I'm planning to go to planned parenthood, guessing I'll ask for a blood test and a culture, but i don't have an open sore. would they try to "pop" it?

Answer:
one bump is a symptom if ur not having a bad outbreak. alot of people just have 1 bump outbreaks.

no telling w/o actually seeing-getting testes, again> alot of people get that bump, and it never turns into the sore but its still herpes.

culture, and blood are perfect- im not sure about the "pop it"- but results in a week or less, (depending on the lab they send to)

Answer:
thanks for the reply. we'll see what happens.

bump update: no real change. possibly smaller, but i havn't been touching it.

I'm trying to figure out what my partner followup looks like... who do i tell and when? I suppose it depends on how long i've had it if i have it. I should be telling the last girl i was with, and I suspect it was her.

I thought i was being careful not having sex. Wakeup call. oral sex is sex. Hope i can get an appointment today. I need to know.

Answer:
yes, find out what it is first- if its herpes, def tell ur most recent girls.
i told my last 2 partners. but depending on how many u have/ how long ur relationships are.... if u can contact them, then go for it.

indeed it is

Answer:
I have an appointment thurs am so they can take a look under the hood / check my fluids, etc.

They're saying they do a culture test, and if it comes out positive, it will tell me what type. If there's nothing to culture, how does that work exactly? can they just swab the area even if there isn't an open sore? I was hoping to also get a blood test to find out antibody levels if i actually did catch it. They're saying no blood test is available.

They're also going to do the usual STD battery of tests... I should probably throw in the aids test just for fun since i'm not going to be spending any money going on dates for a while. Let's do the whole smorgasboard, and if the bump is nothing or an ingrown hair or something, then i know i have a clean bill of health. I really hope it's not wishful thinking.

There are really only 3 potential candidates for the girl who gave me the herp award, Ironically, I havn't actually had intercourse with ANY of them. (way to play it safe and win the door prize!)

Aaaah... dark humor.

This forum has been very helpful. It has also been very effective at scaring the shit outta me. Safe sex and lotsa testing for me in the future, no matter how it turns out.

Well I'm off to go stare at it again and try to will it away. I don't know if i feel it there, or if i'm just psychologically aware of it's presence.

Answer:
Followup on the clinic visit:

They didn't have anything to culture. The white-ish bit had separated into two distinct white-ish bits, shrank a bit, and when i was showering this morning, the whitish bits fell off (not so much popping, i barely touched them in the shower hoping to leave em intact for a culture. There was a teeny little white chunk-o-solid-stuff in there similar to a zit. (anyone else experience this?)

The doc said herp is more clear-ish and my red bump didn't look like the herp to her, or like a wart (i brought up that it could look like a bunch of different things, but she didn't seem that concerned)

I went ahead and got the ghon/chlam test anyway (ouchy needle in teh peepee!) just for fun. i skipped the syphilis blood test. They didn't offer the herp blood test, said they don't do it there. (planned parenthood)

SO... Where should i get the test done? i can mail-order it right? (thought I saw a link here somewhere to order online and go to a local lab/vampire for collection)

I'm still a bit concerned, though slightly less than before (false sense of security?)

Answer:
i went in to the doctor cuz i had 1 bump on the top of my dickhead, days later i found bumps starting to develop under the head but only in the shower under the hot water...

with that first bump tho i went to the emergency room at the hospital and he culture checked it.. said it didnt look like herpes cuz it was only one and blah blah blah, felt my hip and said that might be lymph node, gave me a 10% chance it was herpes..

like i said, i found more a couple days later in a slightly different area, none were clustered together, they were just kinda randomly here there and there on the underside of my dickhead/foreskin..

his 10% chance gave me all sorts of hope but all that came crashin thru the floor when i found more and then the results got called to me a day after i found the rest... got on my meds and i seem to be ok, cept that spot where the original one that got tested, is still there.. not a bump or a lesion or anything really, just i can still see the spot where it was..

thought i gave it to myself on my lip too but i'm hopin it was just a pimple, i eventually popped it and its pretty much gone away, but i let it ride for close to a week cuz i was scared to touch it..


all i can tell you is any sense of security is false until you got a piece of paper or a doctor tellin you "no herpes"