beaker24

Herpes outbreaks in rare cases occur on the hands or fingers, and are sometimes referred to as "herpetic whitlow" when on the fingers. The skin of the hands and fingers is quite thick and not a natural home for herpes the way the mucous membranes of the mouth and genitals and the slightly less thick surrounding (face and genital area) are. However, infections can sometimes occur to any part of the body when there is an open cut or sore or other break in the skin there. As a person will sometimes touch a sore with their hands, their hands can be the place a herpes outbreak appears.

In theory, once a person has an established herpes infection (i.e. an infection which has been around for a while), they have developed antibodies which should prevent them transferring the virus to another part of their body. However, this supposed established fact has not been the case for many posters on this board and for others I have read about, who have strong reason to believe that they have reinfected themselves in a different area (I myself had oral type 1 for years and then got genital type 1 from a cold sore. That's not a self re-infection case but it does tend to lend the lie to the idea my antibodies to the same type of herpes would guarantee protection from reinfection elsewhere - especially when there is contact with a sore and not just asymptomatic shedding).

It's my opinion - perhaps others disagree? - that if you had reinfected yourself with herpes on the hands you would probably see it manifest itself as an outbreak. Although very mild outbreaks can occur on the genitals & mouth which are mistaken for other things, I think you would probably be seeing a difference from just the basic eczema on the hands (which I also get but it sounds not as seriously as you - you poor thing, ouch!!).

I think if it did spread to your hands, the statistics (not always reliable, but still!) indicate that it would be unlikely to recur and there would probably be no significant asymptomatic shedding. Whilst herpes can infect any part of the body where there are cuts etc, I don't think it is often very successful in making a home in such places, as compared with the mouth and genitals and the nerves of these areas.