Oral Herpes Scare

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Hi Terri,

I’ve previously tested negative of HSV-1 and HSV-2 via blood IGG testing. I’m worried and scared that I may have recently contracted oral herpes. Sunday at 2 AM (five days prior) I was getting ready to leave a bar when I received an unsolicited sloppy, wet kiss from a very inebriated female acquaintance. I turned my head slightly prior to the kiss, and I remember feeling her lips and tongue clutch my cheek only centimeters from the right hand corner of my mouth. The kiss lasted one full second in duration, and the female left dark red lipstick on my cheek. Minutes later the bartender gave me a napkin with soda water to wipe my face, and I subsequently left the bar. Forty minutes after the incident I returned home and noticed the lipstick was still on my cheek so I wiped my face with a dab of 70% isopropyl alcohol in the region that she kissed. I had a small pimple in the region that her lips and saliva contacted.

I’m now extremely worried because I have pictures from the evening that show her with a blistering cold sore on the left side of her mouth both on the upper and lower lip, which she presumably was trying to cover up with a large amount of dark red lipstick. It has been 5.5 days and I have not yet developed symptoms, but I am deathly afraid that they will come soon.

My question is twofold:
1. What is the likelihood of me contracting oral herpes from the encounter described (known outbreak, wet kiss with saliva one full second in duration, only centimeters from my lips in the region on my cheek with a small pimple)?
2. Given that this female definitely had an outbreak during this encounter, is the concern for transmission great enough that I should have repeat IGG testing in three months if I were to not develop symptoms?

Please help,
Thank you

[Terri Warren]

I think the likelihood of you contracting oral herpes from this encounter is very low indeed – short time, surface kiss (vs deep kiss), thick skin of the cheek. People are often misinformed about how easily herpes is transmitted to someone else, I think. And if I was your clinician, I would not recommend that you test again, not at all. Obviously, if you develop symptoms, you should have it checked out but otherwise, I would just put it behind you.

Terri

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