Question: Hi,



I am a 42 year old male who weighs 172 lbs. I am healthy so far with no allergies besides hay fever.


On the Thursday the 10'th of November I woke up to four small sores in my groin area in the right side crease between my abdomen and leg about two inches above my penis. The sores were small and looked like pimples with white heads. The were round in shape and two were larger than the other two but were about 1/8". About the size of a normal pimple. There were painless when I touched them and they were circular in shape.

The first three or four healed up in about 4 days but the smaller two are still there. After four weeks there are still a couple of small ones. One separate from the others about where my underwear band would be to the right of my belly button. Like little tiny painless pimples.

I had noticed my scrotum has been really red and itchy. also, I felt raw in the creases of my crotch like I was getting jock itch.

I was stressing out this could be HSV-2 because I had protected (condom) sex with a new partner two weeks prior to the sores. I have been feeling great and had no flue like symptoms, fever prior to the pimples appearing.

I went to my physician two weeks ago and described to him my symptoms. He stated my symtoms did not appear to sound like HSV-2 because during an initial outbreak it would have been more widespread and painful. He examined my genitals and noted the sores appeared bacterial in nature. He grabbed a
black light and noted my hair around my scrotum was slightly glowing in the light. He stated this was indicative of a fungal or yeast infection.

He noted my scrotum was bright red.

I asked him again if I should be concerned about HSV-2 and he said no but offered a blood test. I declined.

He prescribed me two doses of Fluconazole tablets. (150mg) taken a week apart. I took my last dose last Wednesday and notice the redness of my scrotum is gone. Feels totally normal now expect the skin still does feel a little raw around the sores. Also it feels twitchy sometimes.

Just a little additional history. I know it sound gross but the past couple of months after masturbating I remembered I have gotten in the habit of using my dirty socks I wore to clean up with by wiping myself clean. This could explain the fungal/yeast infection but what about the sores?

*The sores are painless and look like a small whitehead. They don'e seem ulcerated.

*Why havent the sores healed up after 4 weeks?

*Should I still be concerned about HSV 2?

*The photo shows the sores about two days after i noticed them. They are all healed up now except for the two persistent ones.

Thanks in advance!

Thank you Dr.

I was worried about HSV because I had read that it can enter through broken skin in areas other than the mucosal surfaces but you say it's not very common.

I had been given other advice that the sores could be caused by a fungus called "Candida Albicans" which I was told was persistent and can cause lesions also. Is this true?

Just in case I have been applying Lotrimin antifungal cream which contains butenafine hydrocloride 1% and Neosporin antibiotic cream to the area.

The only thing to note is the lesions never contained any white pus.. they just looked like red bumps with a dimple.

I searched the internet and they most looked like pictures of Molluscum contagiosum more than anything else.

If they are HSV lesions they would be painful correct? Mine never crusted over either.

Thank you!