If you’re experiencing bumps, blisters, or pain around the genital area, you might suffer from genital herpes, which is a viral condition that occurs when you get infected with the herpes simplex virus. It is very contagious and spreads quickly from one person to another through body fluids. Some people are not even aware of being infected because sometimes this infection doesn’t cause any symptoms at all, but you can still spread the infection. It has no cure, but with treatment, you can manage its symptoms. Learn about genital herpes symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment in this article. Log on to www.doralhw.org for a consultation.
Symptoms
Most people with genital herpes may not develop symptoms or have mild symptoms, which are often ignored. Symptoms appear 2 to 12 days after exposure to the virus. You may experience symptoms like:
- Pain or itching on or around the genitals.
- Bumps or blisters around the genitals, anus, or mouth.
- Painful ulcers develop when blisters rupture and bleed.
- Painful urination.
- Urethral discharge.
- Vaginal discharge.
- Scabs, when ulcers heal.
During the first outbreak, you may also experience flu-like symptoms such as:
- Fever
- Body aches
- Headache
- Swollen lymph nodes in the groin
If you have recurrent outbreaks or flare-ups after the first outbreak, your symptoms are less severe, and the outbreak will be milder and shorter. While you can manage your symptoms with treatment, you can’t control when a recurrent outbreak happens or how often it happens.
Diagnosis
To diagnose genital herpes, the doctor performs a physical exam to check your symptoms and asks questions about sexual activity. If you have sores, the doctor takes a fluid sample from an open sore to test for the herpes virus. If your blisters are healed or you don’t have blisters, the doctor will take a blood test to check for HSV-1 and HSV-2 antibodies, which indicate a virus in the bloodstream.
However, the blood test doesn’t show an active infection (in case of absence of open sores or lesions). But you may have an exposure to the herpes virus in the past. If this is your first infection, you won’t test positive for herpes because your body didn’t have enough time to develop antibodies. Your doctor may recommend that you get a blood test to check for other STIs like syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia.
Treatment
While there’s no cure for genital herpes, treatment allows for managing its active outbreaks and symptoms. You should avoid any sexual contact until genital herpes sores are healed completely.
The first treatment option for genital herpes is antiviral medications. These medications can help with:
- Lowering the severity of symptoms for future outbreaks.
- Reducing the frequency of recurrent genital herpes outbreaks.
- Lowering the risk of spreading genital herpes to others.
- Helping genital herpes sores heal quickly.
The effectiveness depends on how often you take the medication based on outbreaks. If you treat a single outbreak, it doesn’t affect the severity or frequency of future outbreaks. However, your doctor may prescribe chronic suppressive therapy (where you need to take the medicine every day) to make outbreaks less severe and infrequent.
In case your symptoms are mild, or you have infrequent outbreaks, you may not need antiviral treatment. You can use some home remedies to manage your symptoms:
- Apply an ice pack to your genitals by wrapping the ice pack in a washcloth or applying it over your underwear.
- Keep your genitals dry by wearing cotton or other nonsynthetic underpants. Avoid wearing tight-fitting clothes because moist sores take a long time to heal.
- Soak yourself in a warm bath for about 20 minutes. Make sure it’s not a bubble bath.
- You can take over-the-counter medications like acetaminophen or ibuprofen to manage the pain and inflammation. However, avoid aspirin.
- Wear loose-fitting clothes.
- Apply topical creams with 1 to 2% lidocaine to numb the area.
Make sure you wash your hands always after making any contact with a herpes sore. Try to avoid touching the sores as much as possible because it increases the risk of spreading to other body parts.
Genital herpes is a common viral infection that spreads through direct contact with an infected person’s body fluids. It is caused by the herpes simplex virus, HSV-1 or HSV-2. Some people may experience symptoms, while others may have no symptoms at all but still spread the virus. There is no cure for this condition. However, with timely treatment, you can manage its symptoms and lower the severity of recurrence and frequency of genital herpes outbreaks.
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