Scared.

[lou11]

Iv just recently been dignosed with herpes and i just wonderd if i could catch them on my face?

i already suffer from coldsores and have done since i was small. But beacsue i have had them since i was little their not sexually related right? :S

Im so scared i might get them on my face beacuse the kind of herpes you get on ur face look so different to herpes ??

[BoxofRain]

you've already had HERPES since childhood but never understood you had herpes, and yes, if you got them as a kid then it was accidentally transferred to you. However, you need to understand, since you have not been educated on the subject for your whole life, that coldsores are herpes and even without a coldsore present you can still transmit the virus to others at times when you can never know you are contagious. It doesnt matter how long you have not visibly seen a coldsore, you are still contagious some of the time. So basically regardless of how long you havent visibly seen a coldsore, you can still transmit the virus to others some of the time through any contact with your oral region. So kissing someone puts them at a risk for getting oral herpes from you, regardless if a coldsore is present or how long you havent seen one, you carry the virus and therefore shed it a certain percentage of the time without anything visibly on the lips. Second, same goes for performing oral sex on someone....you expose them to the risk of getting genital herpes type 1 from your oral herpes infection, regardless if you dont have a cold sore present at the time, or havent had one for years. Some of the time you shed the virus and never are even aware of it so it is always a good idea to inform anyone you might kiss or have sexual contact with of your oral status, as many people arent aware of the risk of passing oral herpes without coldsores present, but it is a very common and unfortunate real risk......if you dont believe it then look on this board and you will find innocent people infected from their boy/girlfriend who got coldsores when they were little but had no idea they could transmit herpes to others through kissing and/or performing oral sex on others. Its sad but I have read at least a dozen posts on here where the person who had coldsores as a child infects their partner orally or genitally when they had no coldsore present and hadnt visibly seen one since they were younger, so now that you are educated on the subject I hope you use this knowledge to protect others.

By the way, the pictures of oral herpes on the web are gross and are always the worst case scenario, same goes for the genital herpes pictures..........and since you already have oral herpes and have only had symptoms present as coldsores I dont think you need to worry about gettting a severe facial outbreak, since you have never had one and your oral herpes infection has always manifested in the form of coldsores.