Question:
Hi

I just got my first ever cold sore. I realized that I touched my coldsore with my hand, failed to wash my hands, and about an hour or so later touched my genitals. Is it possible that I gave myself genital herpes? I don't have any symptoms yet (except my hypochondria is playing with my head a little), but I'd like to know if I passed it on to myself.

Thanks

Answer:
Hi,

It's possible that you can spread your coldsore on your lip to other place of your body. But...

You don't have any symptom in your genital, right?
So... don't worry.
Just be careful from now on..... :D

Best wishes.

Faith

Answer:
If you touched your cold sore and then touched yourself RIGHT away, then it is more risky...

I doubt that the virus could survive on your hand for an hour.

I'm sure you are fine, but like Faith said, be careful in the future.. Wash your hands after touching your coldsore... hell... Don't touch your coldsore! :wink:

Answer:
Medically there is no known case of infecting genital from oral herpes ie self inoculation. but please for chris sake don't do it again.

Answer:
Medically there is no known case of infecting genital from oral herpes ie self inoculation. right, well, that's a lie for a start.

Answer:
here is a QA from a doctor who states that it is medically impossible to spread herpes from your mouth to your genitals



I am a 32 year old male. For the past few years (or more) I have had periodic breakouts (approx twice per year) on the area just below my lips and just above the chin....usually near the corners of my mouth. (I also still get normal acne from time to time on other parts of my face, but on a more consistant basis.) These breakouts under my lip would start as tiny bumps (like a pimple) below the skin, get infected and grow to the size of about a pea. Each individual one would last 5 to 7 days and the whole area would break out for about 2-3 weeks. I would try to pop them (which I know is bad) but was never very successful at it. I have always thought that these were just infected pimples. I'm not sure why I didn't think about it until recently that this could be Herpes and not acne. I was having one of these breakouts on my face (for about 2 weeks) when I noticed a sore on my genitals. It was just a single sore that did not feel "infected" like the ones I get on my face. I haven't had sexual contact for about 2 years but I read that you can actually transmit the herpes virus from your lip area to your gentials by touch if you are not careful...and probably especially if you try to pop the herpes sore and don't wash your hands. I went to a doctor (Internist) and he took a swab of the sore on my genitals and sent it off for a culture. This swab occurred approx 20 to 30 hours after I first noticed the sore on my genitals but about 2-3 weeks after the outbreak on my face. In case I wasn't clear...this is the first outbreak ever in the gential region. And the sore was healed completely in about 4-5 days. The culture came back as negative for herpes but the doctor said that it can still be Herpes if the swab of the sore did not happen within 48-72 hours of the outbreak.

First of all....could this acne I'm getting be Herpes or is there anything else skin related it could be?

Secondly....If it is herpes on my face, does the fact that I had been having an "episode" on my face for 2-3 weeks void the results of the swab on the new sore on my genitals? In other words...does the 48-72 hour clock start clicking at the beginning of a new sore (on a different part of the body) or at the beginning of a herpes episode anywhere on the body. I am just wondering how confident I should be in the results of the culture.

Thank you for your time.

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Answer Posted By: Derm-M.D.-ASR on Wednesday, September 03, 2003

First of all, the pimples on your face are most likely just pimples, not herpes.



Second, you can't spread herpes from your lip to your genitals. If you could, everyone with a cold sore would be covered with herpes just from taking a shower. (the reverse is also true: genital herpes doesn't spread by touch elsewhere.)

Third, a negative herpes culture 20-30 hours after the onset of genital lesions is pretty reliable (meaning reliably negative.)

My advice is to leave your face strictly alone and show a dermatologist your facial outbreaks. Then, if you get another genital sore, show that doctor at once, for examination and culture.

But overall, I am extremely doubtful that you have herpes or any other STD.

Best.

Dr. Rockoff

Answer:
Yes it's somewhat less likely to have HSV1 spread from your mouth to your genitals. But it's by no means "impossible". The assertion that the HSV1 sufferer would have been covered with herpes infections just from taking a shower simply does not hold water (forgive the pun). The hot water and soap of the shower would kill/wash off most of the virus, making self-inoculation nearly impossible.
People are likely to go by what you say is true because you're a doctor. It's a weighty responsibility. Please consider carefully before making definitive authoritative statements. [/b]