Herpes simplex is a kind of virus, which causes rather unpleasant and painful disease. There are two types of the simplex virus. The first one - HSV 1 causes disease on the area around a person's mouth, on the lips, etc. Generally, this virus affects person's face. Very rare type 1 attacks genitals and wounds person has on his/her body.
Simplex virus 1 causes very small blisters on the skin. Those blisters are usually painful to touch and itchy. Burning and tingling go along with blisters. If you scratch those you may seriously worsen the present condition. There can develop a group of blisters or few separate sores. When a person is infected with herpes 1, the sores usually appear after some period of time, about 7 days. They are healed approximately for a week too.
While you heal the blisters, they break and the liquid comes out of them. After this phenomenon the reddish skin remains for a while and unpleasant feelings stay too. But the most terrible phase of HSV is in the past already. This period, when the blisters leave your skin, is called remission period of virus. Fortunately, blisters and sores almost never leave any scars if you don't scratch them.
But the fact that you've healed the sores completely doesn't mean that you don't have herpes in your body no more. It simply hides deep in the nerve cells and waits the right time to activate. Whenever you have stress or bad mood or cold, virus can cause the disease again and again.
HSV 2 usually affects person's genitals or the area around them. Type 2 passes from an ill person to a healthy one during sex intercourse. Two days later or more, HSV lets his new owner know about its presence. There appear tingling and itching on the infected area and blisters and sores too. Herpes 2 can also cause fever, rather painful urinating (mostly for women) and aching in muscles.
Type 2 - genital herpes - is more difficult to diagnose. You need to pass some special tests to get the accurate results. The doctors were reported about the cases, when a person had the virus, but it was too mild and a person simply hadn't known about its presence in a body. But after several years, it became very active and the disease developed.
Herpes simplex 2 usually don't leave any scars on the skin too, if you heal it right. Consult a doctor if you have noticed some suspicious changes on your skin.