Question: Hi Dr., thanks for taking my question. Male here, received unprotected oral sex from a XXXXXXX XXXXXXX 30 yr old male, in St XXXXXXX city (have read that information is makes this a riskier event). 3 days after the incident I noticed a raised red spot on the tip of my penis. The skin looked dry/irritated and looked like it had a small sore in middle but was so small also just looked like an imperfection in the skin, couldn't tell. Went to a doctor 5 days after incident (2 1/2 days after noticing spot) who didn't seem concerned at all. He said it looked like a penile papule, took blood test (which makes me question his knowledge testing for antibodies 3 days after an incident), asked me to not have sex until after the blood test came back. While waiting on the results the spot stayed about the same size. The spot in the middle has developed a small sore. The red area in total is about 2-3mm, the sore in the middle is less than 1mm. It is not firm. Test results came back negative. Timeline was 3 days for red spot/papule, 10 days from incident for small sore. Now at 14 days and doesn't seem to be changing, but wondering how slow the process goes to develop chancre so it may be and just changing so slowly I just cant tell yet. My questions are 1) after a papule develops how long should it take for it to develop into chancre? 2) I understand that I should follow up in 6 weeks because of infection I may not see, but specifically for this spot on my penis now........ if it were a papule from syphilis would my body have developed antibodies within 2-3 days of having the red spot/papule appear? Thanks in advance for information!

I have had HSV-1 for 15 years. Still have outbreak 1-3 times a year but it has always been on shaft, have never had on head. Test was RPR, came back negative. I can't be 100% sure, but being that I am very familiar with the way my body has reacted to HSV outbreaks for the past 15 yrs I have doubted that is the reason for the sore. Thanks for answering both questions, I have a follow up/clarification to the second. Since it seems that this was a raised red area for close to a week before developing a sore, would the antibody test become positive a week after the papule or a week after the sore developed? I have ordered a blood test online and was planning on going to lab today to have them draw the blood. It was Fri XXXXXXX 20 that I noticed the red spot/papule, seemed like a sore started around 26th or 27th. So it's been 11 days since noticing the red spot and 5 days since the beginning of a sore.

Thanks again. Would it be abnormal for the location of a herpes outbreak to change on the penis? I think I have been pretty typical with the outbreaks I have had. The first couple of years were more frequent and persistent, year after year they have become less frequent and noticeable. I think they are still substantial enough that I wouldn't have one go by without me noticing, but they affect me less. They have always been on the shaft though, in between where my foreskin was cut and the head. Have moved around from underside to the left side, but always have been in that same area, and never on the head. Is that abnormal for a outbreak to change location like that?