[Newly diagnosed - Herpes in unusual places]

Thanks Dancer! I'm definitely going to be contacting a specialist soon. I need to to be able to return to work and I think I've decided to just wear a glove and long sleeves to cover up my left arm. I figure its a very miniscule chance I could give it to someone even without gloves but, not a risk I'm willing to take.

[Newly diagnosed - Herpes in unusual places]

Yes, its not something I had ever thought could happen but... here I am! The outbreaks come out in a spot I wouldn't actually use for massage (right above elbow), but I am wondering about viral shedding from the whole area (I think its the C5 dermatome?) in the case of a client having compromised skin such as acne, cracks etc. As a fellow MT, would you be concerned about that, WCSDancer, or would you consider the gloves overkill? Thanks!

[Newly diagnosed - Herpes in unusual places]

Thank you for that link. I am a massage therapist so it seems likely I may have contracted this from working on a client. I feel it also might be necessary for me to wear gloves while doing massage from now on.

[Newly diagnosed - Herpes in unusual places]

Thanks for your reply Sab! Luckily my lesions are completely healed, but in regards to when we shed the virus, would I need to be concerned about shedding through my oral or genital region? Or just the region that gets the outbreak (my arm in my case)? Any insight could really help me out, I haven't been able to find too much info about herpes outside the typical areas.

[Newly diagnosed - Herpes in unusual places]

I saw my doctor for a lesion on my arm and the swab came up positive for both type 1 and 2 HSV. I've never had an outbreak in the oral or genital regions, would I still be contagious through these areas or only on my arm?