ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a case study of a 39-year-old man. He is referred by his GP to the on-call dermatologist with a 3-day history of a sore throat, painful mouth and blistering rash. The sore on his upper lip and widespread blistering eruption had first occurred at the age of 7 years and had erupted on four previous occasions. He feels well in himself but is having difficulty eating due to his painful mouth. The clue to the underlying cause of this patient’s oral ulceration was the preceding sore on his upper lip – herpes labialis caused by HSV type 1 was isolated from a viral swab. This patient presented too late to be treated with aciclovir for his herpes labialis, however he was commenced on aciclovir 400 mg daily as secondary prophylaxis against further episodes.
