"Counseling of infected persons and their sex partners is critical to the management of genital herpes."1
By educating the patient about genital herpes, the physician can help empower the patient to manage this lifelong infection.2 Patient concerns usually include:
- Severity and frequency of clinical outbreaks2
- Sexual relationships and transmission of the disease to others2
View a video featuring counseling advice from an expert.
Suggestions for patient counseling at follow-up visits:
- Assess lesion healing
- At each subsequent visit, discuss options for episodic and daily therapy as patient need or desire for therapy may change
- Ask about relationship status/partner status
- Evaluate psychological status
- Look for profound distress or depression
- Have psychological resources available as needed
- Assess patient's understanding of ways to help prevent transmission (eg, abstinence during symptoms, condom use)
- Read counseling recommendations from the CDC and ACOG.
- Review information on this site that can help with patient education.
- View our Podcast Entitled "A New Look at Managing Genital Herpes."
