DH suddenly getting cold sores?

[Rachelscloset]

I might be panicking.

I’ve been with DH 6 years and he’s never had a cold sore. Since lockdown he’s been getting spots near his lips, they did look like spots, more pus-like etc. However he has now developed a spot that looks a bit too much like a cold sore. It’s very read with no head and we can’t tell what it is yet but we will find out.

I’m really anxious as I thought that oral herpes has to be caught from someone - does this mean he’s kissed someone else?

Mask wearing can give the most awful spots.

@52andblue

You’re correct that oral herpes is mostly caused by HSV1.

However, half of all new genital herpes cases are caused by HSV1, the exact same virus, very commonly from oral sex with somebody who gets cold sores.

HSV2 causes the other half of genital herpes cases.

"cracks at the corners of his lips it could be a fungal/yeast infection caused by wearing a mask."

I used to get those cracks after going swimming because of having a wet face for a while. The pharmacist told me the cracks in themselves are not an infection though. I can imagine someone getting it after sweating in a mask.

I got them as a child and it wasn't from kissing any one.

Probably just a bad immunesystem atm...Lacking nutrients and vitamine

However.....the fact you straight away think he is cheating on you....?! Ai... you must not trust him and therefor..how good of a relationship do you even have? Did he cheat on you before??

Cold sores are really contagious and not just spread by kissing. You can catch them from a mug or glass or a towel. Why do you have such paranoia about cheating?

I find it weird that that's the first conclusion you'd jump to! Do you have no trust?

Are you sure it's cold sores?

If it is, my old boss was suspected of kissing someone else too by his girlfriend but he swore he had not cheated on her and he got the virus from drinking from a glass that had not been washed well enough, at a bar.....I'm not a medical professional so I have no idea if this kind of situation could also be a possible route of transmission 💁

It isn't normal that this was your first assumption and it doesn't bode well for your relationship. Has he ever given you a reason not to trust him?

I had one when I was about 14, I haven’t had one since and I’m now 31!

I always get them on holiday- I think it is because I relax

Lots of people will be a bit low due to the stresses of this year and may suffer cold sores as a result.

I've had like 3 in my entire life, always up my nose and definitely only when I'm run down.

You really are worrying over nothing.

Is this new thing being so paranoid about cold sores? I've seen posts like this a few times on MN recently, even people saying they wouldn't date anyone who has even had a cold sore!

In my childhood people got cold sores sometimes, they came they went that was that. My understanding even as a teenager/young adult over 30 years agos was that the herpes virus is common and can lie dormant in lots of people. Outbreaks occur when people are stressed or tired or even sometimes because of sunny weather. They can start as a small spot and mine sometimes tingle a bit beforehand

Nowadays you can by acyclovir cream over the counter to use at the beginning of an outbreak which works pretty well. I am astonished somebody would equate a cold sore with the possibility that someone was unfaithful (in the absence of any other worries about that)

It’s likely to be spots from mask

Iv really enjoyed reliving my teenage acne years recently - not

Go to the pharmacy n ask 🤷🏻‍♀️

I'm pretty sure I read that most people are infected with herpesvirus causing cold sores before the age of 2. It then flares up occasionally over the years when stressed/run down etc.

I just googled and "Fifty percent to 80 percent of U.S. adults have oral herpes. According to the National Institutes of Health, about 90 percent of adults have been exposed to the virus by age 50." I'd assume UK is similar.

wow you are super paranoid - do you have a reason to not trust him

"Cold sores are massively sore, and often have a tingling, creeping sensation inside. They are disproportionately sore to how they look."

^^This. One can't mistake a spot for a cold sore. If he brushes over it lightly with his finger and doesn't feel like he wants to claw his face off or similar, it isn't a cold sore!

I get cold sores any time I’m extremely stressed, exhausted or generally run down. I can go years without (record was 4 for me). Didn’t get a cold sore til my teens despite never having kissed anyone in a romantic way either!

^^This. One can't mistake a spot for a cold sore. If he brushes over it lightly with his finger and doesn't feel like he wants to claw his face off or similar, it isn't a cold sore!

That’s interesting, mine are never that painful? Tender to touch but have never caused me much bother, though I do get the tingling sensation. Definitely cold sores too, GP gave me a cream/oil type thing to put on it when I had one just after having my youngest DC

I am sure i have read somewhere re increase in spots and mask wearing. Is he wearing a mask all day?? I have had a horrible spot near my lip and i haven't had spots for years!!

So you don’t even know it’s a cold sore - and he thinks it’s a spot? And you have jumped to the conclusion he is cheating? Seems a bit off.

I've had herpes (and always on the lip) since I was 10. No one had an idea how I caught it. Haven't had one in 3y until yesterday.

I got my first cold sore at 37, it was stress induced.

I’d suspect this was spots from wearing a mask.