Bae EB. Recurrent herpes infection showing a new facial phenotype: A case report. World J Clin Cases 2024; 12(22): 5271-5275 [PMID: 39109023 DOI: 10.12998/wjcc.v12.i22.5271]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Eun Bit Bae, Doctor, Academic Fellow, Lecturer, Research Assistant Professor, Institute Liberal Education, Incheon National University, 119 Academy-ro, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon-si, 22012, Seoul 02841, South Korea. argent.bae@gmail.com
Research Domain of This Article
Dermatology
Article-Type of This Article
Case Report
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Clin Cases. Aug 6, 2024; 12(22): 5271-5275 Published online Aug 6, 2024. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v12.i22.5271
Recurrent herpes infection showing a new facial phenotype: A case report
Eun Bit Bae
Eun Bit Bae, Institute Liberal Education, Incheon National University, Incheon-si, 22012, South Korea
Author contributions: Bae EB designed and performed the study and wrote the manuscript.
Informed consent statement: Informed written consent was obtained from the patient for the publication of this case report, and using her pictures for research purposes.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The author has no conflict of interest related to the manuscript.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: Https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Eun Bit Bae, Doctor, Academic Fellow, Lecturer, Research Assistant Professor, Institute Liberal Education, Incheon National University, 119 Academy-ro, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon-si, 22012, Seoul 02841, South Korea. argent.bae@gmail.com
Received: May 2, 2024 Revised: May 31, 2024 Accepted: June 18, 2024 Published online: August 6, 2024 Processing time: 60 Days and 19.8 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Facial herpes is a common form of the herpes simplex virus-1 infection and usually presents as vesicles near the mouth, nose, and periocular sites. In contrast, we observed a new facial symptom of herpes on the entire face without vesicles.
CASE SUMMARY
A 33-year-old woman with a history of varicella infection and shingles since an early age presented with sarcoidosis of the entire face and neuralgia without oral lesions. The patient was prescribed antiviral treatment with valacyclovir and acyclovir cream. One day after drug administration, facial skin lesions and neurological pain improved. Herpes simplex without oral blisters can easily be misdiagnosed as pimples upon visual examination in an outpatient clinic.
CONCLUSION
As acute herpes simplex is accompanied by neuralgia, prompt diagnosis and prescription are necessary, considering the pathological history and health conditions.
Core Tip: Unlike common facial herpes, this case introduces a new pan-facial herpes symptom: Swollen redness on the patient’s entire face without herpetic vesicles. The patient had experienced recurrent infections with herpes simplex and herpes zoster viruses since the age of 7 years. On the visit day, the patient complained of headache and neuralgia; hence, a prompt antiviral prescription was advised based on the patient’s pathological history and current condition.
