How is genital herpes treated?

Genital herpes is a sexually transmitted disease caused by the herpes simplex virus. Generally, treatment methods for genital herpes include improving lifestyle habits, maintaining personal hygiene, topical medications, oral medications, and traditional Chinese medicine treatments, as detailed below: 1. Improve lifestyle habits: Patients are advised to rest adequately, avoid alcohol consumption and staying up late, and eat more foods rich in vitamins, such as apples and eggs, which may help in symptom recovery. 2. Maintain personal hygiene: Genital herpes is usually caused by infection with the herpes simplex virus. Patients should maintain good personal hygiene and keep the affected area dry and clean to prevent secondary infections. 3. Topical medications: Under a doctor's guidance, patients can apply topical treatments such as calamine lotion or mometasone furoate cream to the affected area to relieve itching. 4. Oral medications: Patients may take oral antiviral medications such as valacyclovir hydrochloride tablets or valacyclovir hydrochloride granules as recommended by a doctor to combat the viral infection. 5. Traditional Chinese medicine treatment: According to traditional Chinese medicine theory, genital herpes is caused by external pathogenic toxins accumulating and stagnating in the skin. Patients may take herbal medicines such as Coptis (Huang Lian) and Forsythia (Lian Qiao) under a doctor's supervision, which have effects of clearing heat and detoxifying.