Let's say a painful bump shows up on your groin.

You might wonder if it's a pimple or an ingrown hair or a herpes sore, or some other peculiar growth. The best answer to this question comes from a medical provider who can do an exam and run tests.

What I'll offer is a quick rundown of the possibilities and some clues to tell the difference between them. [WHIP CRACKING, COUGH]. Pimples: pores that get blocked by dead skin cells, sebum or oil, maybe some bacteria. Ideally they go away on their own in a few days and don't cause you a lot of pain or stress.

Pimples are more likely to come around if you've been eating a lot of dairy or high glycemic foods such as white bread and potatoes, but they're also connected to puberty. More sebum is excreted during puberty, so there's more oil on your skin, collecting what's around it, and possibly trapping the mess in your pores. One thing you can do is change your eating habits.

Another is to improve your hygiene. An many cases though, people get help from doctors because their pimples need more attention than a behavior change. The doctor may prescribe creams or even birth control pills to manage the pimples.

What you need to know is that pimples are not the only explanation for bumps on your groin. Ingrown hairs are like pimples, but they're a little bit more of a hassle because somewhere in them, there's a hair coiled up or growing sideways. Ask yourself if you've shaved waxed, plucked, or Naired recently.

Even though ingrown hairs can happen when your pubes are natural and flowing, it's more likely that a hair will grow in toward the body if it's growing back after being removed. If you want or need help, there healthcare professionals who can assist you. Let them know that you think you have an ingrown pubic hair, and they'll guide you from there.

If you'd like to go the DIY route, I would suggest taking a pain reliever and/or doing some deep breathing. It's not recommended to lance an ingrown hair with a needle or a safety pin as it's hard to ensure your equipment is sterile, and doing so often worsens the infection. But if you can easily grab that squirrely pube with some tweezers and reposition it so it's going in the right direction, you should be okay.

What's most common is the use of warm compresses, holding a clean warm towel on the area for a while a few times a day. Herpes is a kind of sore that you do not want to mess around with. Don't poke it, don't squeeze it.

You might know if your bump is a herpes sore because 1) You've had them before. They tend to come back on the same part of the penis, scrotum, thighs, buttocks, around the anus, labia, and/or vagina. 2) You came in contact with someone who has herpes, either through oral, genital, or anal play. 3) Generally the first symptom is a tingling or itchiness which you're not going to scratch! And 4) The bump might not go away before getting much worse.

Here are your options! Go through the cycle of an outbreak, which can last days or weeks. The sore or sores will enlarge, then start weeping clear fluid.

You may feel rundown and irritable like you have a fever. Maybe some sensations of burning, definitely discomfort. But the sores will crust over with a yellow scab, eventually fall off on their own, and your groin will go back to normal.

Another option is to go to your doctor or a walk-in clinic now. Tell them you think you're having a herpes outbreak and ask for medication. If you don't already know you have the virus herpes, they'll test you and then usually prescribe acyclovir or valcyclovir.

These are pills that don't get rid of the sores but do cut the time you have them in half. Lastly, there are over-the-counter medications like lysine and Abreva. But again it's not a cure, and for some people it makes the symptoms worse.

Whatever you choose, be gentle with yourself and please don't infect others! A few more explanations for your bumps might include: Razor burn - a skin irritation from shaving. Skin tags - harmless little growths of skin.

A bulge in a blood vessel. Swollen or infected glands. Molluscum contagiosum - painless tiny bumps caused by a virus.

Warts or human papilloma virus, another infection that's easily transmitted from skin-to-skin contact. Syphilis, a rare disease which is curable if you get help and deadly if you don't. And melanoma or skin cancer that can appear on and around your genitals.

Remember that if you want to know for sure, contact a medical provider. Show them your mystery spot, ask them for tests if you don't know whether or not you have a sexually transmitted infection, and follow the treatment plan if there is one. I really mean it when I say, "Stay curious!" Please subscribe to this channel and share it with your friends.