Recurrent genital herpes on the buttocks: "herpes disciformis"

We report a clinical variety of recurrent genital herpes on the buttocks of seven women ranging in age from thirty-four to eighty-one years. The lesions had recurred for one to nine years and had produced a characteristic cicatricial rounded area within the S2 to S3 dermatomes on one buttock. Herpes disciformis is believed to be an anatomical variant of the common genital herpes infection. We have only noted it in middle-aged or older women with no history of genital herpes.