Signs of genital herpes lesions

Genital herpes lesions can be painful and cause a huge discomfort. If left untreated these genital herpes lesions will soon burst forming ulcers or sores, which are even more uncomfortable!

What causes them?

The main causes of herpes sores are the HSV1 and HSV2 virus. These are two variants of the herpes simplex virus, which resides in dormant form in the nerves of our bodies. In their dormant state they do not cause any genital herpes infection but once they become active, they travel to the skin surface and start multiplying.

This process is called shedding and represents the most contagious and infectious part of genital herpes infection. During this time, other persons who make skin contact, kiss or even have sex can start contracting genital herpes. Once the shedding process is over, the virus moves down into nerve ganglion and stays there in dormant form until the next attack.

Recurrence of attacks

The sad thing about genetial herpes is that genital herpes lesions will keep coming back with every attack throughout the life of the victim. There still exists no cure for the disease and genital herpes pain will continue with every recurring attack. However, the good news is that the intensity of genital herpes pain and genital herpes lesions will reduce with every subsequent genital herpes outbreak!

The lesions

The genital herpes lesions start out as reddened blisters, which eventually become bigger, more swollen and then burst. When they burst, they turn into sores. These sores form scabs on the surface and are extremely painful. In fact, they are the biggest contributors to genital herpes pain. The extent and severity of the genital herpes lesions tend to reduce as attacks continue recurring but the fact is that these genital herpes lesions will continue throughout your entire life.

How to prevent them

The best way to prevent genital herpes lesions is by avoiding direct contact with anyone who already has such genital herpes lesions or has cold sores and genital herpes symptoms. Thus, if you notice a person has genital itch, experiences fevers and flu-like symptoms on a consistent basis or is experiencing some degree of genital herpes pain then you can be sure the person is contracting genital herpes.

One of the most common ways in which genital herpes lesions spread easily is through sexual contact. It could be either in the form of anal or vaginal sex, oral sex such as fellatio, analingus, cunnilingus etc. or even through kissing! You may not believe this but kissing can result in spread of genital herpes lesions through oral contact. Of course, this would result in cold sores and genital herpes would only happen through the HSV2 type virus.

It is important to remember that sometimes even if there are no obvious signs of genital herpes lesions the person could still be infected. Hence, you need to exercise caution. Keep a sharp lookout for whether the person has any genital herpes lesions, any kind of sores, genital itch and if they do make sure to avoid any sort of contact where fluids are exchanged.