California woman claims that she contracted herpes after trying a lipstick tube that she picked from the cosmetic giant, Sephora. Citing this, she sued the retailer Sephora, who did not respond to her complaint.
The woman claimed that she got herpes from using the lipstick and she did not have it before. According to the customer, the store did not make any mention of getting oral herpes from their lipstick. The woman is under emotional distress after the episode.
According to Dr. Amesh Adalja of John Hopkins Center for Health Security, Baltimore, people can contract herpes from the use of lipstick. However, risk of getting oral herpes is quite rare. Adalja said that the woman might be having oral herpes even before using the lipstick.
Dr. Suman Radhakrishna said that for the infection to happen, the lipstick must had been passed quickly to her after being used by someone with the infection. Oral herpes is contracted through saliva. HSV-1 or, herpes simplex virus type 1 causes oral herpes, which results in cold sores and blisters.
HSV-1 is not something that one must be distressed about as more than 70% of people under the age of 50 have carry HSV-1 virus for herpes with most people not showing any symptom.
Source: health.com
