Cutaneous herpes simplex infections and their treatment

Herpes simplex virus causes many important systemic as well as cutaneous diseases. The most common cutaneous diseases are herpes gingivostomatitis, labialis, and genitalis. Many new treatments for these diseases are proclaimed each year. There are so many treatments that one would believe that either everything works or nothing works. As there is no Federal Drug Administration approved treatment for cutaneous herpes simplex, the latter statement is probably more correct. Regardless of this dilemma, the physician must continue to diagnose and treat many cutaneous herpetic infections. In this paper the basic concepts of the herpes simplex virus will be briefly presented. Additionally, the most common cutaneous herpes infections will be reviewed with emphasis on critical analysis of their proposed methods of treatment.