In the last few days I was with a longtime friend of mine, who has been quite close for some years, though until now only as a friend, and during the time we were together I performed oral sex on her. (note that I previously had not had any sexual contact for well over a year, and at least according to what she told me, and I believe her, she had not either for 8 to 9 months, including but not limited to oral) A couple days after the encounter I noticed a lot of tiny pimples all over my chin and upper lip, where I had had contact with her. No other symptoms at that time, I assumed perhaps some sort of allergic reaction (?) as it was not that bad. Over a 2 day period it got worse, I was still getting the pimples, only less of them, and larger, and the ones that had been there before (I was lysing them with a sterile needle, yes, steel not tin, as if they were blisters, and sterilizing them with peroxide to avoid infection) had turned into red bumps, instead of just disappearing like the occasional pimple I actually do get, and deal with in this same way. Yesterday being the 3rd day since I noticed symptoms, I saw that the ones that had popped, either on their own or through my intervention, had formed yellowish scabs. I have been searching the 'net frantically and the closest I can come up with is my friend may have herpes but be asymptomatic. Last night as I stepped into the shower I took another look, and the skin on my chin where all this is happening has begun to flake up, as if I had a really bad sunburn, and sort of peel off in little bits. It's really gross. Also yesterday morning I woke up with a sore throat, kind of figured I'd give it a day but it's not gone. I've been doing research all night again (there goes my GPA) and worrying a little, but so far cannot determine what this might be OTHER than herpes, and even then it doesn't really seem to fit what I've found. This morning I looked in the mirror (about 10 minutes ago) one more time, as the sore throat has gotten much worse, and there is a white patch on the back of my throat, consistent with where the pain is located. Could this be a cold sore? One of my friends suggested strep throat, but again, I don't think I really fit the symptoms. Could this indeed be herpes from what I've described? If not, any other ideas what I might be looking at? My reason for not having gone to the doctor yet is simply that I have no insurance, and with tuition, rent, car payments, etc. money is already tight. I wanted to give my body a couple days to fight off whatever it was, but now I'm sorta worried. Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
-Worried Dude

I can truly appreciate your wanting to find another explanation for your sudden symptoms.....

This is gonna sound really gross, but is there a smell coming from them? It could be some kind of yeast infection/thrush - especially what you described as a white patch in your throat. Go see a doctor! Paying the money is far worth not worry about it needlessly if it can be treated with a pill!! Make sure you tell your friend, too. She might not know something is wrong "down there."

Hi WorriedDude,

So sorry you're going through this. I think you should see a doctor ASAP too. You need to know, and you need to see one immediately before the symptoms heal any further, or they will be too healed to be able to test. It might already be too late but even for your doc to get a visual on it could be helpful, and s/he might be able to do a swab on your throat sore.

Yes, it's possible your friend might have genital herpes and not know it. If she has genital HSV-1 and you've never had cold sores before, you could be having a primary OB for oral HSV-1. Oral HSV-2 is pretty rare, although not unheard of. Oral HSV-2 will have different implications, so it's worth it to find out. If you just caught oral HSV-1, you just joined up to 90% of the population that already has it so you're not alone there. If your friend is one of that 90% you could just as easily have caught it from kissing her (depending how "messy" the kissing was *g*).

I would suggest you talk to your friend and get her to get a *type-specific* blood test done. Ask her about her history of symptoms, both orally and genitally. If she has it and doesn't know about it, she needs to.

And of course, it could be a bunch of other things too. I also thought of a yeast infection when I read your post, so it's worth it to see a doc and find out for sure.

Good luck and let us know how you make out.

TheOneInFour