i am a virgin and have never had any other kind of sexual contact with anyone with herpes or anything similar (coldsores etc). however, in the last 3 days i have had a type of rash of about 7 spots on my vagina that have now developed into sort of cuts/sores that are very painful at times (the pain is always noticable no matter how mild). the first spot to develop was on my left vaginal flap and initally turned into a white spot before developing a sort of black covering/blood blister which later fell off, leaving a painful cut/sore underneath. these are most painful after exposure to urine and leaves a severe stinging sensation. i am extremely worried about this. does this sound like herpes to you? i am currently on my period and these abnormalities first occured the day before the start of my period and i was wearing pantyliners that day. could this be an allergic reaction to that? or a reaction to medication? i also suffered a minor head injury earlier in the week, could this be somehow related to that? if it is herpes where could i have got it from and what should i do now? i am sorry to have written and asked so much but i am extremely concerned. please help me asap!!!!

Hi Crandle1,

I'm so sorry you're going through this. I can understand that you're scared and upset.

I can't say whether or not it's herpes, other than to say that given your situation it doesn't sound likely. It could be an ingrown hair or a scratch that got infected or something else. But the only way you're going to know what it is, is to get your doctor to look at it. There may not be much left there for him/her to really see but go anyway and describe what was there. If it comes up again, go ASAP so that your doc can do a swab culture test on it.

If it is herpes (not very likely), it would probably be HSV-1 (cold sores) transmitted there after you touched your mouth and then touched your genitals. You say you don't get cold sores but it's possible to have HSV-1 and not get symptoms, and yet still be contagious...even to yourself. If you've had non-intercourse sexual contact (touching, oral sex, etc.) then it could be possible they had HSV-1 but just didn't have symptoms, in which case it's possible you caught it that way. But your doctor can probably suggest other diagnoses it could be.

If your doctor can't figure out what it is and it keeps coming back, get him/her to do a blood test on you to check for herpes. A majority of people have HSV-1 (caught in childhood from relatives and friends), but if you don't have it then you'll know you can at least rule it out.

Best thing is don't panic or jump to conclusions.

I hope that helps. Let us know how you make out, okay?

TheOneInFour