Reply To: HSV 1

[Betty]

I never had a culture test done. My doctor thought the rash did not look like herpes. But it hurt, itched, and caused me to have strong genital biting sensations. It had changed in appearance from white bumps on a hyper red base to white streaks on a hyper red base. I also got some long slashes like cuts in my vaginal skin several months later. The person who could have infected me has genital type one. Unfortunately my doctor was not up to date with herpes info and never took a culture. She had diagnosed me as having herpes based on IgM results. Two years later, she retracted her statement and said she was wrong.

She was unaware that people could have herpes despite negative blood tests, that the IgMs are useless, and that she should have taken cultures when I had rashes and broken skin. She is overall a good gynecologist but was behind in her understanding of diagnosing herpes.