Question:
I've had my first cold sores on my lips ever at age 31 - 2nd occurence now, 1 t one a little more than a month ago. I have no idea how I got infected, but that's beside the point for my question.

The question is, each time I had my cold sores, I also got a light rash at the same time on the same small spot on the shaft of my penis. No raised bumps or noticable lesions, just a little itchy area that turned into a very light scabby area (like you get with a very light abrasion, not like when you have a lesion or skinned knee) a few days later.

I've done some searching on the web for instances where you get cold sores and genital symptoms at the same time, but haven't found anything. Is this something that's happened to anyone else? Does one type of herpes trigger the other at the same time?

It's the first time I've had either, so needless to say, getting them at the same time is downright traumatic for me.

Thanks for any responses.

Answer:
you clearly have contracted oral herpes, and the likelihood that you also contracted it genitally from the same person who gave you oral herpes is extremely high if they performed oral sex on you, with or without a coldsore present, herpes can be spread. So most likely when you contracted it orally through kissing someone who had it, then they most likely gave it to you genitally as well, if they gave you oral sex....could have only been once. the reason it might be such a slight outbreak down below is due to the fact you have it orally (assuming the same strain) and perhaps it has something to do with that and it preferring the oral location....it can still cause symptoms and be contagious below, but it might present more symptomatic orally.
Theres also a chance its not genital herpes but sounds more like it is..... and as to why it is occurring at the same time....my guess is that when it activates it travels the nerve pathways in both locations, since that is where it was first contracted(in both locations)

Answer:
Thanks for your response.

I haven't received oral sex so I'm pretty sure I probably passed the virus from my mouth to genitals through touching. Either that or I may have been touched by hand by someone else who had the virus.

So I've been reading alot about this virus and some things I'm not real clear on, so someone please help me out. I have a list of questions for you experts on this forum.

If it's possible to pass the virus to yourself by hand, how come a higher percentage of people with mouth sores don't have the same virus in the genitals? I would think that everyone touches themselves for peeing, during sleep, masturbation, whatever, fairly often. It would be very easy to slip up and touch yourself in both places before washing your hands (especially if it happens during sleep) Given that the virus can be on your mouth even without symptoms, wouldn't it be very common for this type of transfer to occur? Like close to 100%?

Also, from what I'm reading, the nerve areas where the virus hide for sores of the mouth and genitals are different and separate. Which makes sense because otherwise everyone would automatically transfer the virus from the mouth to the genitals and vice versa. So why do they seem to activate at the same time in my case? Anyone have an explanation for this?

Another question is, can I transfer the sores from one area of the genitals to another just by the way things shift around down there, and what's a practical way to prevent this from happening?