Very worried about hsv-1 spread

[Micaball]

Hello Terri,
I am a 29 year-old male. I have had hsv-1 for about 9 years that I know of ( I found out I had hsv-1 when I was 20). And I typically get about 2-3 cold sores a year. I developed my first cold sore this year five days ago on Friday. And this morning, as I was waking up and was half asleep, I raised my hand, and I accidentally touched the cold sore on my lip with my hand. And I slightly dozed off and woke up again and remembered I had Touched it, and I’m scared that I inadvertently touched my face after touching the cold sore and infected another part of my face with hsv-1. This has always been a fear of mine: getting sores on other part of my face such as my cheeks or nose or forehead or eyes. And I’m always very careful. Whenever I have had a cold sore in the last 9 years, I always make sure not to touch it. And I’m scared that since I touched it while waking up and went back to sleep, that I infected another part of my face. My question is How likely would it be for my to have spread the sores to other parts of my face and how long would it take to develop sore on other parts of my face now?? I’m very worried.

[Micaball]

Also, I found that I woke up, and the side of lips that the cold sore is on is the side that was resting on the pillow, and I’m afraid that I could have also spread the hsv to other parts of my face this way.

[Terri Warren]

I think you don’t understand how oral herpes works. Herpes facially infects the trigeminal nerve, which is at the base of your skull. This nerve group has three branches. One supplies the mouth, another supplies more of the nasal area, and the third supplies the eye area. The virus can travel on any branch of that nerve to come to the surface of the skin. While most people’s herpes outbreaks specially are on the lip, many people get outbreaks in their nose and some people get outbreaks on their eyes. It is not possible for you to move the virus around on your face but the virus could show up on its own in another location on your face. Please let me know what other questions you may have about this topic.

Terri

[Micaball]

I didn’t know that. So hsv-1 affects all three of those areas, and it just limited to those three areas of the face. Can it show up on like the cheeks or chin or other pages of the face? Since I haven’t had an outbreak that I know of in my eyes or nose in the 9 years I’ve been getting cold sores, is it very likely that it may happen at some point?

[Terri Warren]

Yes, it could show up anywhere on the face but since you’ve been infected for 9 years with only oral outbreaks, it is less likely that it will show up somewhere else though still possible.

Terri

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