I have had recurring cold sores since I was a child. Recently I had one that, I thought, had healed. Thinking this, I performed oral sex on my HSV-free girlfriend for no more than five minutes on Monday evening. By Tuesday afternoon she had found a single blemish on her genitals and so she visited a walk-in centre after work. The advisor said the blemish looks like an ulcer but could be herpes. She said that she could not take a sample to test for herpes because "it was not a blister". Cue freaking out and tears.
My girlfriend has no history of HSV and, upon inspecting my seemingly-healed cold sore, I see that it remains a red blemish -- although all scabbing has been gone for about a week. I asked her this morning, Thursday, how it's looking, and she said "it's getting better". She intends to visit a sexual health clinic for a second opinion and possible test.
Could it be that I passed HSV-1 to her genitally during this exposure? Do symptoms ever occur within 24 hours? Could a primary breakout look like this?
Unfortunately I am a little hazy on the details as my girlfriend was pretty upset when she told me all of this.
If she is diagnosed as having HSV-1, and hopefully she is not, what are the practical implications for our sex life? We previously had sex without condoms as she is on the pill. Would we need to take extra precautions?
I feel horribly guilty about this. Many thanks for any advice.