Genital Herpes Medication

While there is no cure for genital herpes, a number of medications can be used to help shorten herpes outbreaks. Some of these medications include famciclovir, valacyclovir, and acyclovir. Taking medication for genital herpes can also make symptoms less severe and prevent outbreaks from occurring.

Medication for Genital Herpes: An Overview

There is no treatment that can cure genital herpes; the virus will always be in your body. However, for people with genital herpes, medication can be used to:
 
  • Shorten outbreaks
  • Make them less severe
  • Prevent them from happening.
     
These medicines are known as antivirals and include:
 
Antiviral medicines work by interfering with DNA synthesis to prevent the virus from reproducing. Famvir and Valtrex, which are better absorbed by the body, can be taken less often than Zovirax.
 

Research Results With Genital Herpes Medication

Zovirax and Valtrex have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat an initial episode of genital herpes to help heal the lesions and to lessen the pain. All of these genital herpes medications can also be taken either episodically (when a person has an outbreak or feels one coming on) or suppressively (daily to help prevent the recurrence of outbreaks).
 
The sections that follow discuss the research results for each of these medications used to treat genital herpes.

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Written by/reviewed by: Arthur Schoenstadt, MD
Last reviewed by: Arthur Schoenstadt, MD
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