Surgical treatment for recurrent herpes simplex.

Superficial epidermal surgical removal of a recurrent herpes simplex lesion within 36 hours of onset nearly always prevented recurrence in the site of excision. It is postulated that the surgery results in epidermal denervation, which prevents reinoculation of that epidermal site by the virus-laden sensory neuron. The procedure did not prevent further clinical expression of the disease at other epidermal sites innervated by the same or other infected neurons.