Help me identify my roommate's spots.

July 2, 2007 9:37 AM

My roommate has three unidentifiable pimple-like things in his pubic area and is now kind of freaking out. One has been there about a week or so and the other two just showed up in the last day or two so we're looking for possible ideas of what they could be.

Here's the whole story:

He said he's had pimples and ingrown hairs in the area before so he didn't pay much attention to this first one. However, he slept with a girl on saturday night and did not use a condom, when he got home was the first time he really noticed the second two spots and he started freaking out. (Highly doubt it was from this most recent girl since the first spot was already there before he met her.)

As for the spots themselves, the first one is the largest, raised, red, had the look of a whitehead pimple but he either burst it or it burst itself. The other two are smaller, raised, round and red as well. They all have a little dot/dimple in the center (coming up around a pore I'm assuming?).

When he came home on Sunday and was freaking out he cut off most of his pubic hair and washed the area with a benzoyl peroxide acne wash. He has since been applying an OTC triple antibiotic ointment. He said that the larger original one has begun to itch, but I don't know if that can be attributed to the freshly cut pubic hair, the acne wash, or even the ointment.

He thinks he has an STD, I'm disinclined to believe so. Besides his escapade this weekend, he had sex with a condom about two months ago one time with a new partner. He has had contact in the interim with old partners who are clean (I can attest to that). He said his last unprotected contact of an ambiguous nature (other than this past weekend obviously) was the end of January/beginning of February. Between September and January I remember him having several other suspect contacts.

Anyway, what do you think, besides that he's a drunken fool who needs some self-control? It's difficult to identify any possibly "patient zero" so the incubation period for his possible STD is rather vague. I told him to make a doctor's appointment which he did but he is panicky so I told him I would post it on here. Thanks in advance folks.

posted by adamdrici to health & fitness (20 comments total)

The only real answer: Dude, wrap that shit up, and go see a fucking doctor. Panicking isn't going to help, and having more sex with random unprotected partners really ain't gonna help either.
posted by SpecialK at 9:41 AM on July 2, 2007 [1 favorite]

Hate to tell you, but sounds exactly like herpes. Off to the doctor!
posted by meerkatty at 9:42 AM on July 2, 2007

It sounds like an ingrown hair to me, which could have been made worse by him freaking out and shaving/cutting off his pubic hair.

get him to a doctor. freaking out does no good, and the only thing that will give him either peace of mind or a course of action to treat whatever it may be is getting a professional opinion.
posted by plaingurl at 9:46 AM on July 2, 2007

Show him this picture and tell his loser ass to call the girl, too.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 9:47 AM on July 2, 2007

I agree with meerkatty; it sounds like herpes.
posted by Four-Eyed Girl at 9:48 AM on July 2, 2007

could be herpes, could be pimples, could be ingrown hairs, could be boils. sounds like all of them. quick answer is go to the doctor and have him/her diagnose it. and don't sleep with anyone on the way there.
posted by misanthropicsarah at 10:01 AM on July 2, 2007

Unfortunate Fact #1: genital herpes is spread by contact AND fluid, so condoms do not protect anything other than the area with latex on it.

Unfortunate Fact #2: genital herpes can be spread when the transmitter is NOT in an active breakout, or is in a very mild one.

Unfortunate Corollary to #1: Non-penetrative sex can spread herpes just as easily as penetrative sex.
posted by a robot made out of meat at 10:03 AM on July 2, 2007 [1 favorite]

(forgot)
Unfortunate Fact #3: You can safely assume that everyone else is lying to you about who they (have not) slept with.
posted by a robot made out of meat at 10:05 AM on July 2, 2007 [1 favorite]

Without more info (e.g. spacing, grouping, etc.) it could be several things. I had a friend who freaked out with a similar condition and it ended up being jock itch. Go see a doctor.
posted by NationalKato at 10:12 AM on July 2, 2007

OMFG TEH HERP!|!
U FUK U DIE!!!!!

or maybe not. it can be a million different things other than herpes/teh clap/AIDS/foot and mouth disease. it can be an infected cut, a pimple, whatever. it's a bacteria-rich zone, esp in the summer, esp if you don't shower/bidet right after fucking.

go see a doctor, the Internets cannot diagnose you. I bet it's not herpes (and seriously, I sure hope I never catch herpes but Christ, it's not the end of the world, it's just a nasty thing one is better off without).
posted by matteo at 10:13 AM on July 2, 2007

Thanks for the answers. As I said he did make himself an appointment for later this week.

NationalKato: All three spots are more than an inch away from each other, which made me personally doubt that it was herpes.
posted by adamdrici at 10:18 AM on July 2, 2007

Could be herpes, could be HPV, which can cause sores that look a lot like herpes, but (thankfully) aren't and are easily treatable.

There's really no way for him to tell, so he needs to get his ass to the health clinic and get it checked out. And if it's anything but ingrown hairs, he needs to tell all the girls he's slept with recently, condom or not.
posted by Kadin2048 at 10:19 AM on July 2, 2007

Molluscum Contagiosum. Can be sexually transmitted, but you can also get them from public swimming pools. A dermatologist or other physician will cut them out pretty easily, but don't try to pop them because then they'll have to dig deeper when they take them out.
posted by awesomebrad at 10:22 AM on July 2, 2007

Oh, also, it stays in your system for a while, so expect repeat visits for up to a year.
posted by awesomebrad at 10:22 AM on July 2, 2007

Unfortunate Fact #1: genital herpes is spread by contact AND fluid, so condoms do not protect anything other than the area with latex on it.

Herpes is only transmitted via direct skin-to-skin contact, not semen/vaginal fluids.
posted by tristeza at 10:24 AM on July 2, 2007

Herpes is only transmitted via direct skin-to-skin contact, not semen/vaginal fluids.


Unambiguously false
posted by a robot made out of meat at 11:17 AM on July 2, 2007

I showed him some of the photos and he said the spots look exactly like this photo of Molluscum Contagiosum.
posted by adamdrici at 11:42 AM on July 2, 2007

Ugh, I had that. I totally freaked and my doc thought I had herpes. It was a disaster. Chromium...it works.
posted by parmanparman at 11:58 AM on July 2, 2007

I immediately thought molluscum contagiosum because of the dimple (umbilication) you said was found in the center of the pustules. This is a classic finding. Herpes is a possibility, but it tends to hurt like hell and not look like a pustule. Of course, a visual examination, and cultures if necessary, are the only way to really know for sure.

Regardless of what this is, he needs to be tested for other STDs (the kind that don't cause bumps, like chlamydia, etc.) as he has a possible STD exposure from unprotected sex. Even if this is just folliculitis (and again, I suspect it is probably molluscum contagiosum) he is at risk for STDs due to unprotected sex.
posted by tuff at 2:14 PM on July 2, 2007

Sounds like me on Friday night. No lie (self link).

Just a bacterial infection. That hurts like a sonuvabitch.
posted by damnjezebel at 6:58 PM on July 2, 2007