I tested positive for hsv1 via blood test.I've had hsv1 for years now.I'm real scared that I'm going to spread it to my fingers hands after touching my penis or genitals. I continuously wash my hands for 20 minutes after using the bathroom.Can hsv1 spread elsewhere how long should I be washing my hands so I dont pass it ?

Once you have HSV 1 in one location (mouth for you, I'm guessing), it is extremely unlikely you would pass it to a new location on your body.  I may have seen this happen once ins 40 years of practice.  You are washing your hands for 20 minutes?????  You should be washing your hands for 20 seconds with soap and warm water, certainly not more---

Thanks Terri.So hsv1 for me is genital.The excessive washing of hands is due to the fear I will spread it to hands lips or face after touching that area down there?Since I have hsv1 genital I can’t reinfect myself with it on the lips face ormouth?

In my entire career of 40 years specializing in HSV, I have seen this happen perhaps once - I was not sure that this patient actually had had a cold sore previously, but did have a genital lesion that was positive for HSV 1.  Sometimes people get confused with lesions that appear on or near the mouth, thinking they are cold sores when they are canker sores or some other kind of lesion.  Suffice to say, with the thousands of herpes patients I've dealt with in my life, if this was the only one where this happened, if it did at all, it is very uncommon.---

I'm starting to get the handwashing under control now.How much soap should be used to kill the virus when washing hands?Does the body develop some sort of an immunity over time toward hsv1 once you already have it,is that the reason why you said that it is extremely unlikely to pass it to another location on your body when having genital hsv1 or oral hsv1 for that matter?Also can hsv1orhsv2 be passed to someone else if they touched bath towels that someone else has used that has herpes?

how much soap?  Until it lathers nicely with washing.  Touching a bath towel is not a risk - perhaps wiping ones genitals with a towel that has JUST been used to wipe the genitals of another could present a very small risk.  Yes, your body would build up antibody that keeps you from gettng this is a new location---