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Hi Terri, thanks for your response.
As it turns out, I have been using Eluphrat ointment 2x / day throughout the entirety of my herpes outbreak on an unrelated folliculitis issue that I have on the top of my buttocks. The folliculitis and herpes just happened to roughly coincide (the folliculitis started several days before the herpes outbreak and this is around when I started treating it).
I get the folliculitis outbreaks from time to time during warm weather etc. My doctor prescribed me the Eluphrat ointment (well before my herpes diagnosis) which Google says “is classified as a high potency topical corticosteroid.”
Having done some research since you drew my attention to it, I understand that steroids / corticosteroids are strongly contraindicated with herpes because they inhibit immune response which is exactly what I need to respond to the herpes!
To be clear, I have not been applying the ointment on my genitals but on my folliculitis which occurs on the top of my buttocks, right in the sacral region. I will immediately stop using the ointment.
Questions:
1. I think I’ve been able to answer my own question but, in your opinion, could my use of the corticosteroid during the outbreak be the reason it is taking so long to heal and why I have had a ‘second wave’ of blisters?
2. Could use of the ointment a few days before I had the outbreak have lowered my immune response in the boxer shorts region to allow the herpes outbreak to occur in the first place?
3. I have been applying some tea tree oil directly on the herpes lesions and this seems to have been helping dry them out. Do you think tea tree oil is ok to use?