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"Batman Begins"
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Katie Holmes looks shocked...
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...That her face rash has gotten so much attention.
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Could it be herpes?
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"Batman" has begun, yet rather than comment on Christian Bale's mole, dangling from his brow like a bat from a stalactite, an intense flashbulb flare distracts. As a rule, I don't post paparazzi pics at skinema.com, but the recent images of actress Katie Holmes have been so downloaded and dissected that they are practically public property. Holmes was photographed after a trip with superstar squeeze Tom Cruise. The starlet sports dry, crusty, chafed skin around the mouth with an inflamed bump on her lip. Despite the immediate tabloid diagnosis, this is not the classic appearance of herpes. It could merely be irritation, possibly due to canoodling with an unshaven cinema stud. Herpes, however, does not always fit the textbook picture of grouped water blisters encircled by redness. Also, Holmes herself admitted to a tendency to facial fever blisters in a 2003 interview with Allure magazine:
"Holmes does have one less-than-glowing memory of her childhood: recurrent cold sores. Not the little kind on the lip, but the large, festering blisters that sometimes would invade her throat and even her eyes. "I'd get them everywhere--I'd just walk around eating ice cream." Even today, she says, "If I break out in a million zits I'm so excited it's not a cold sore."
Presuming this is the reactivation of the herpes virus, Holmes is not alone. Some estimate that 50-80 % of Americans have to handle this type of oral herpetic hassle! So despite the online outcry about Holmes' condition, the days of fever blisters causing a near suicidal stigma should go the way of Hawthorne's "Scarlet Letter." It's the 21st century people: Get over it. Or treat it. Outbreaks can be safely controlled with antiviral medicines. Topical treatments like Abreva and Denavir may soothe the inflamed skin. But like a certain caped crusader, oral meds like Valtrex, Famvir, and Zovirax have been shown to temporarily vanquish the virus. With the condition controlled, the stalkerazzi will have to look for other dermatologic defects to document.
At least the event qualified her for a 2006 Skinnies award. She's the uncontested winner of the "Worst Timing of the year" category.
