worried136

Hi to all,

I am a man in my early twenties, about 3 months ago, I had protected sexual intercourse with "the wrong people" on several occasions. At one point a rash appeared on my thigh and I was worried it may be herpes. A herpes blood test is not easily accessible where I am so I cannot have that.

Three small rashes appeared on my inner-thigh near the scrotum area. They started as small itchy and somewhat bumpy circles. They were never painful, only itchy and scratching seemed to relieve the itch. First I thought they may be bug bites (because of the many bugs in the area I was living, and because they seemed to be lined up) or in-grown hairs but they did not contain puss or hair, they did however look like very small blisters but no secretion ever "oozed" out. After a short period of time (1 to 2 weeks), the small itchy bumps multiplied and turned into three irregular red circles. The inside of the circle seemed to heal but as it healed, more small bumps appeared on the edge of the circles and it grew bigger. None of the rashes were very big, the largest rash reached 1 to 2 inches of diameter. After about 3 (maybe 4) weeks, they healed and left slightly dark spots on my skin which are almost gone by now (3 months later).

After looking online, I thought they could be either Herpes, psoriasis or granuloma annulare. The symptoms are more similar to granuloma annulare but I read it usually affects young children, and can last a long time. Furthermore, there is no history of diabetes or psoriasis in my family.

The rashes were similar to these ones:
[url]http://dermatlas.med.jhmi.edu/derm/IndexDisplay.cfm?ImageID=-820758246[/url]
and the bumps kinda looked like this:
[url]http://dermatlas.med.jhmi.edu/derm/IndexDisplay.cfm?ImageID=1091299656[/url]

Does anyone know if these symptoms could be consistent with herpes? Does my preferred "diagnosis" of granuloma annulare seem right?

Thank you in advance.