K well i get cold sores when im sick.. does that have to do with herpes? and if it does why???


And next if i have just cold sores can it or will it lead to genatal herpes???

If it does is there any way to stop it?

I dont know why i have herpes. cause no on in my family has them but my dad gets the occasinal cold sore from being out in the sun... but im only 14 Arh!

Okay, calm down :).

Yes, cold sores are herpes, to be more exact hsv-1. It is very very common, approx 70% or more of the population are positive to hsv-1. Children usually get infected by their parents, your dad probably kissed you at some point, when you were younger perhaps. If you kissed someone else with hsv-1 then it could have been passed to you that way too.

The sun is a very common trigger for cold sores, so that is why your dad breaks out in the sun.

The other type of herpes is hsv-2 and it is usually the genital type. It´s rare to have hsv-2 orally. Hsv-1 though can occure very well genitally too. You need to know that you can pass your hsv-1 from the oral region to the genital region if you have oral sex with someone. Even during times when you do not show any symptoms of a cold sore, there still might be active virus on your lips or in the oral region. So make sure that what ever kind of sex you might have now or in the future it´s protected and that you don´t feel any symptoms of cold sores when having sex or just kissing someone.

But if you´re concerned that your cold sores will turn into genital herpes then you need not worry about that. You already have the antibodies for the virus and hence you have good protecion against spreading it to other locations on your body.