DB, if the Dr tells you I was in the 10% of non-infected, will you believe her or will you recommend she read the posts on this thread and change her professional medical specialist's opinion?

Your insistence, for whatever reason, of disbelieving the origin of the infection is degrading, undignified and disrespectful and has nothing to do with this thread which is to make people aware of Herpes Simplex Eye Disease.

I've nothing more to add and will only post to give news of the state of my eye. I will continue to answer pm's from those with questions, concerns or who would like relate (and sympathize) with this disease.

Thank you.

__________________
"You put the F.U. in "fun"." TJ Donkey Boy aka Ouchboy

Yeah, whatever. You go on believing whatever you like.

I hope your eye gets better soon.

Thanks for sharing this. I knew about Herpes Simplex but had no idea that it could affect the eye as well.

I hope you get some antiviral meds that really wipe it out...

I don't know if it helps any, but my daughter also got a very nasty case - sounds like about the same time as yours began - and this is the fourth week that she's been fighting it - we thought at first it was a complication of exczema or a severe allergic reaction... the blisters came up 6-8 each day for about three weeks - it's just starting to clear up in the last few days and the only thing that really seems to protect the skin from getting more and more damaged is a petroleum based product for her lips...

It finally seems to be improving this week.

One of the children in my son's Kindergarten got it for the first time just before Christmas, and she had blisters all inside her mouth as well. She was off school for about two weeks and had an ointment to apply to cover the spots over when she did finally come back to school.

I wonder if there's a particular virus going around that's maybe a bit more complicated than the 'usual' herpes ? Or perhaps the weather that's triggered it off...

Hope you get some relief soon ! I can certainly relate to the pain - I managed to catch chicken pox the first winter after arriving in Switzerland - head to toe spots and I was delirious for about three days...slept up to 16 hours a day...and OMG was I cranky once the fever broke...

Please forgive my ignorance (I don't have any medical training so somebody please correct me) but I always thought that such a large percentage of the population had this Herpes Simplex 1 virus in their blood stream because they had contracted Chicken Pox.

I thought that Chicken Pox (Varicella) was a type of Herpes though maybe Herpes Simplex 1 is different ?, and that it does stay dormant all your life and can pop up as Shingles is you are very weak, taking certain meds, intensely stressed.

Is this true ?

I really feel for you JLP, your eyes are precious. I hope you get better really quickly.

__________________
.
"Il mondo è fatto a scale, chi le scende e chi le sale"

You are thinking Herpes zoster which is different although from the same viral subfamily.

Also herpes doesn't live in the bloodstream but rather in nerve roots

Seems that the pollen alergies, confuse the imnune systems and then favor outbreaks.

So be careful when you see people with blisters, it is very common here in Zürich

Ok, I learned a hell loads of things from this thread and Thank you Honey to bring this up. I really reallly hope your eye will get better soon without too much damage.

My husband gets those cold sore when he gets sick or is very stressed. Everytime he feels it coming he won't let me kiss him and until it is completely gone. I thought he was making a big deal out of it, but today, I learned how right and responsible he is about it.

My dad has them too. I always been around of people having it but never had it myself. Could it be that I am immune or I have it but don't develop it?

Just in case you happen to be lucky enough never to have witnessed relations in which the endowments are less than most would brag about, there sometimes is quite a lot of more generalized skin-on-skin touching than just the skin of the particular organs in question.

So, while I'll agree that condoms do help greatly with infection in specific areas touching specific areas, I think it is beyond obtuse for condom companies to carry on as if that is the only possibility of infection, which was my point.

In addition to skin touching, if things are truly going very well, one would hope for plenty of squishyness, much of it coming from someplace other than the part covered by a condom - more specifically, from the female. Just cuz his pole is covered doesn't mean SHE isn't getting all over him from belly button to knee caps and possibly beyond.


So... taking it back to JLP's point about awareness of risk for places other than mouth and genitals... it really is important to know who you're putting yourself at risk with and what you're touching when you touch them, wherever you happen to be touching.

__________________
The Joys of Opticianry

holy crap, Peg..

you went all : "Dear Penthouse," right there....

LOL No, that was the Dr. Ruth version.

Interesting. Maybe I should be going to your dental office instead. I have a break out everytime (in the very same spot) I visit the dentist and she confirmed too that having the mouth open for some time, if there is dryness or chapping in the lips, the skin can further crack -a perfect chance for dormant herpes 1 to move in. Scout's honour!

If your husband has it, then it is almost certainly the latter.

You'll just have to keep your fingers crossed that it doesn't ever break out somewhere nasty.

I'm trying to figure out if I've just never had contact with herpes simplex or it's just never expressed itself. I have never had an outbreak, although several relatives have various forms of the virus expressed, although my husband has never experienced an outbreak.

If I was going to have immune system wackiness, the last three months would have been a good time for it, as my immune system has been pretty depressed due to chemo but nada.

There is another condition, called a "canker sore" or "aphthos ulcer" where ulcers appear on your tongue or in the interior mouth lining, and those I do get, especially sensitive to particular foods or when the mouth lining is stressed (e.g., immune suppresion, chemotherapy, PMS). Everything I read about these suggests that they are not the same as herpes simplex.

At any rate, I'm sorry about your cornea - we're going to be dealing a different eye problem here for my husband, and so I know how eye stuff is so scary, and stressful to manage. I hope yours will turn out well in the end with as little pain as possible.

I have to admit that I knew about the genital and mouth involvement, but I just never thought about the impact and possible transmission on the other parts of the body, so it's great information to have - a good reminder that certain viruses can be transmitted in many different ways.

But I hope all will go well for you! Thanks again.

Thanks for that

But if someone thinks that a condom is going to protect them in areas which aren't covered by said condom then they are in the running for the Darwin award.

Yes, maybe so. If you've only seen sores around the mouth or in the genital region, you simply may not consider that they can impact other areas. I think it's the way we frame things as "sexually transmitted", forgetting that often the entire body is involved in sex.

I wonder if those could be the same thing as herpes for some people. Outside soft tissues, those are cold sores, inside they are canker sores. When my daughter got infected with herpes virus, she had those canker sores all over inside her mouth, but zero cold sores, no zoster, nothing.

I don't ever get cold sores, but ocassionally canker sores, if something happens when there is a window of "opportunity" those canker sores are waiting for (too much sun, flu, hormonally lowered immune system or dentists, if I hit my gums with a tooth brush accidentally, even candy that's too sour or food that's too hot, whitening commercial toothpaste cause those with some people, too). The virus surfaces differently with different people. I think it is better, to have canker sores though horribly painful, but nonetheless, found a terrific plasma bandaid

they sell it here, too, I need one day to get rid of a canker sore. Cold sores seems a lot more contageous, to me, since you brush your hand against it, then rub your eye or pick your face, without knowing. Canker sores in general, are simple lesions (mini gangreen), I don't think they are particulalry contageous (but certainly linked to low immune system or some kind of tissue issue).

__________________
"L'homme ne peut pas remplacer son coeur avec sa tete, ni sa tete avec ses mains." J.H. Pestalozzi

“The only difference between a rut and a grave is a matter of depth.” S.P. Cadman

"Imagination is more important than knowledge." A. Einstein

I could have written EXACTLY this about my own experience... only, about cold sores, and I'd add stress, stress, stress.

No, it is not the same. The initial herpes simplex infection very often produces sores inside the mouth, fairly similar to aphthous ulcers, but the real cause of aphthae, a.k.a. canker sores or Sutton's disease, is totally unknown, which is interesting because it is a fairly frequent thing, affecting more than 10% of the population.

Solcoseryl does help easing the pain, but so far there is no remedy that actually shortens the time until an aphthous sore heals. All evidence is only anecdotal.

The best thing to do for people who have frequent aphthous outbreaks is to find out the trigger. That usually is something they eat, most often walnuts, certain kinds of cheese, hazelnuts (only the brown skin), tomatoes, bananas, certain toothpastes (in this sequence of frequency). Eliminating a trigger substance (which may differ from patient to patient) can be absolutely reliable for totally eliminating the occurence of aphthae.

But, as I wrote, there is no connection whatsoever between herpes simplex and aphthae.

__________________

"This is AMAZING! I have the exact amount of money Joe Biden has cost us playing golf in my sweatpants pocket!" — Kona Lowell

Solcoseryl actually has an active agent made of plasma (they call it haemodialysat in German, I have no idea what it actually is) that helps re-epitelyse the tissue, it boosts the regenerative processes, it really works for me, beside there is a painkiller in it, if I am not mistaken, and the fact it glues over canker sore and dries it, makes it a lot more bearable (just tastes manky, salty). One day with Solcoseryl every 5hrs, and that bastid is gone. Without it, it took 4 days, at least, I had those burned by liquid nytrogen a couple of times, genciana violet put on it, gurgled with whats it...Corsodyl, and nothing really helped. Actually used to get them routinely after almost every visit at a dentist, I think it was pressure on the gums and soft tissues, kinda mini traumas.

Fruits and nuts don't cause it with me, but certain Colgate and Signal whitening toothpastes almost always did. I switched and don't get them anymore, unless my immune system is down, I bite myself or poke with a toothbrush (I think I brush with too much verve). Thanks for the canker vs cold sore input.

JLP - they are making Solcoseryl for eye lesions now (eye gels for damaged cornea). Maybe worth asking your doc. Good luck. I gota have lense replaced with plastic ones soon, can't even make myself think about it.

__________________
"L'homme ne peut pas remplacer son coeur avec sa tete, ni sa tete avec ses mains." J.H. Pestalozzi

“The only difference between a rut and a grave is a matter of depth.” S.P. Cadman

"Imagination is more important than knowledge." A. Einstein