Scarleteen

Hypothetically, if you touched/picked a coldsore on your face and then touched your genitals how screwed would you be in terms of 'potentially transmitting the oral variant to the genital region'?


In case 'hypothetically' wasn't a clue, yeah, I'm a little anxious about "what if I gave myself something permanent that will affect me in the event I hypothetically progress to a point where I have sex aaaaaaaa" because of not paying attention to where I put my damn hands so rip me I guess.

Hi Iwanthelp,

The information I can find suggests that this phenomenon (called autoinoculation) is possible, but not very likely. It's especially uncommon after the initial outbreak of herpes, because your immune system has been established against herpes simplex. Does that make sense?

Too, if you're still feeling a bit freaked out, it may help to remember that herpes of any time doesn't prevent people from having happy, healthy sex lives. It can just require some extra precautions, you know?