Having a relationship with my girlfriend who has herpes.

Should I be worried? Honestly, I'm  only 16. I don't know what to do. She has like herpes near her face. What are the chances of me getting herpes? I can deal with it if it's only a 1% chance. But I mean if the risk is greater than the benefits, then I might break up with her.

[idk00]

facial herpes? many ppl are infected by herpes.
i just gotdiagnosed with genital herpes and im still in shock..
i wud be deeply hurt if a bf wud leave me bcoz of this...
i wud be more worried if it was on her genitals.
but of course the choice is up to u~

[gracefromHHP]

oral herpes is very common. at your age, 1 out of every 3 of the people you know have hsv1 whether they get obvious cold sores to know it or not!  http://www.ashastd.org/herpes/herpes_learn_oralherpes.cfm  is a link with terrific info on oral herpes for more reading.


so what do you do at this point? Well I'd seek out a type specific herpes igg blood test to see what your status is. Talk to your parents about this and let them know that you care for this gal but she gets cold sores so you want to see if you have hsv1 already so that the two of you can decide together just how concerned you have to be about her oral herpes.  if you test negative for hsv1 ( if you can recall having had cold sores yourself at some point, you can probably skip testing unless you suspect you might have hsv2 genitally from a partner ), discuss with your gf if she thinks her parents would allow her to start taking acyclovir suppressively ( every single day to ward off cold sores ). That way less she has to deal with getting cold sores on her face and waiting for them to heal as well as most likely less risk of you contracting hsv1 from her when kissing her ( we don't have studies on this but it should help a little since we know it helps with hsv2 transmission ).  

if you plan on being intimate with this gal, probably a good idea for her to only perform protected oral sex on you. they make flavored, unlubricated condoms that taste a little better. They also make flavored lubes you can use with condoms for oral sex too.

keep asking questions!

grace

[ticked]

One you can only get it if it is an open sore.  Its not a big deal. Wait for it to completely heal and dont make her feel like she is diseased and not worthy because of it.  

[gracefromHHP]

no you can not only contract herpes when there is an open sore!!!  you can transmit herpes even when symptoms are not present.

grace