Herpes or...? 3rd time this has happened though :( *photo included*

I'm not really sexually active right now anyways lol thanks for the info!

I find them randomly, like I always just occasionally check down there to just make sure everything's ok and I'll just find them, so it's not pain or itching that bring them to my attention. They always freak me out though so my first reaction is to pop it, dumb I know, but after that they clear up within a few days. Like any wound, the less I bother it the quicker it heals. like this one that I just recently found, I popped it yesterday morning, put some cortisone cream on a bandaid and covered it for a few hours and then let it breath and today it's almost healed, just a tad swollen with a scab covering where it popped..

I was reading, could it be a boil?

I've had sex once the past year, the last time I had super risky sex was 2-3 years ago, more on the 3 year end though. This bump thing didn't start until around September/October and I've only had three, all single bumps that have all looked about the same.

Yeah, I believe you're just dealing with pimples/boils here. You have a couple of options if you want to be sure of your status, but again, what you describe doesn't sound like herpes so even if you did get a positive result from a blood test, I wouldn't assume the bumps you're dealing with are herpes. The next time one of these comes up, you should get it swabbed if you need the peace of mind. You should also get an IgG blood test.

definitely going to try and get it swabbed, what's an igg blood test?

so, I looked at it closer when I got home and noticed that what I thought was it healing over was just a simple scab, it came off easily without pain and there's still a round raw area.. I included some pics that I hope can help what I'm describing. it doesn't itch or hurt although I'm not touching it directly.

Yes, definitely try to get it swabbed. The only issue with culture swabs is that they require fresh fluid from the lesion, and typically anything past 2 days can result in a false negative. If you're able to request a PCR swab, that is a much more sensitive and a much better test to tell you whether this lesion specifically is herpes.

An IgG blood test is the only correct blood test to reveal your herpes status. It looks for antibodies to herpes in your blood, not the actual virus (because the actual virus does not exist in blood). The caveat with an IgG blood test is that you have to have given your body sufficient time to reach a detectable antibody level, which is 3+ months after exposure. So as long as you are 3+ months beyond any sexual encounter that you believe could have led to acquiring herpes, then just take the blood test for a definitive answer. If you've had any concerning sexual activity that is more recent, you may not get an accurate result. Never let a doctor give you an IgM test. Many doctors are not well educated on herpes and do not understand that this is an outdated and useless test for herpes. Decline this test and if they insist on it in addition to an IgG, ignore the results entirely.

Though not always and though some people have atypical symptoms, herpes usually involves multiple blisters that sit on the surface of the skin (not coming from beneath the skin like pimples do), that rupture, sometimes kind of join together, and then leave an open lesion that usually leaks a clear to straw colored fluid. Herpes lesions don't contain blood and puss, so that's another indication that what you're dealing with is not herpes.

All of this said, I am not a doctor, and nothing replaces blood work and swabs.

its not an open sore. it does look like an ingrown hair..

I've had an ingrown hair and it looked similar except I haven't shaved in several weeks.. I figured if it was an ingrown hair it would have happened closer to when I shaved and also I haven't seen a hair.. although I have shaved around it since finding it.

Unless the lesion is appearing on an area of someone's vulva that has NO hair, don't worry about the fact that you haven't shaved. Between friction from regular activity or working out, bacteria, too tight clothing, or even just a hair growth cycle, pimples and ingrowns can appear where people never shave. Think about pimples on your face, you don't shave that either (assuming, haha) and yet you get pimples, blocked pores and the like. Same thing on your nether regions.

good to know! I do workout quite frequently and in tight clothing as well. my work pants are sorta tight so it does make sense.. also thank you for all the testing info in the reply above, I'll keep it in mind when I go!