serious question... done the research and can't find anything

[another random guy]

Hello,
I was wondering if it is possible to get genital herpes during masturbation while having a cold sore. It occured to me after masturbating that I may have touched my penis with saliva on finger. At the time, I was just getting rid of a cold sore.

Three or four weeks later, a little bump (about 1 or 2 millimeters) looking like a blister showed up. It went away after a couple days but then recently came back after another month in the same place. It does not hurt or itch but is simply just there. it doesn't hurt when i touch it or pinch it either. it is beginning to go away again after a couple days.  

does herpes 1 change into herpes 2 in this situation or would it be genital herpes 1? how does the virus actually get transmitted if it is just the virus on the shaft of the penis and not an opening such as the urethra?

[gracefromHHP]

Are you planning on going to your doctor to find out what this is that you've noticed?  If you've ever had sex before you could've contracted hsv2 and just didn't know it and are just now noticing the symptoms of recurrences.  A blister twice in the genital area is worthwhile following up on. It's best if you can be seen while the blister is still present.

grace

[another random guy]

that was extremely helpful. thank you so much

[jda123]

Herpes 1 and 2 are two separate viruses.  Herpes 1 is usually contracted orally and causes common cold sores, but can also be transmitted to the genitals, most often through oral sex while a cold sore is present.  Herpes 2 is most often genital and is uncommonly contracted orally.  Neither virus can change into the other.  The virus is actually transmitted into the skin and does not need to be in an opening such as the urethra.  It usually needs to be "massaged" into the skin which is why genital herpes usually affects the head and shaft of the penis, where there is the most friction during sex.

It is possible to pass Herpes from one part of your body to the other if you were experiencing an initial outbreak.  If it was a recurrent outbreak (have you had cold sores before?), then your body has built an immunity to catching the virus again in any other location, so it's extremely unlikely you could catch it somewhere else...maybe even impossible.  Search the forum for "autoinoculation".  This is a quote from one of Dr. Handsfield's posts:

"Autoinocuation (self infection from one body part to another) sometimes happens during initial HSV infection, but is extremely rare in chronic or recurrent herpes, if it happens at all.  It isn't that the virus is fragile; it is because the immune system prevents new infections with the same virus strain. For the same reason, neither you nor your partner can acquire a new HSV-1 infection from each other."