Hello Doctors,
As my questions in the past certainly indicate, I am rather concerned about STDs/HSV. Presently, my elderly grandmother is staying with my family. From time to time she gets cold sores. From her perspective, it isn't a big issue, which, I suppose, is true. But, she also has the habit of constantly touching her mouth and not washing her hands afterward; I've seen her subsequently touching all manner of things, including the television remote, various things around the kitchen, light switches, etc., and she insists on hand washing much of the dishes, glasses, cutlery, etc. in the house. Given my general anxiety about cold sores, this makes life a bit uncomfortable for me.
Her most recent cold sore developed three weeks ago (October 21, 2013) and that is when I first noticed a blister(s) on her lip. This subsequently developed into a sore and scabbed over the course of two weeks. Needless to say, I went out of my way to avoid any direct contact with her sore and also any contact with things she had touched. This is especially difficult given that we share not only the house but also a bathroom.
In any event, the sore appeared to heal, but slightly raised reddish mark has remained where the sore used to be. Now, I understand that a person with HSV1 can shed the virus asymptomatically and that it is less of a concern than when an obvious blister/lesion is present, so there is always that reduced risk at play. What I am wondering is whether this red mark that is left over from her cold sore (21 days after the initial blister developed) would likely still be contagious or whether the cold sore has likely healed and this is some kind of normal scar that can be expected to be left over, and whether I can now forget about this issue and go about things normally.
Thank you for your help.