This may sound gross but?

I have a cold sore beneath my nose and I want to basically grow a herpes culture and mess with it a bit as well as test the sore for herpes simplex (even though I already saw a dermatologist who confirmed that it is HSV-1...I just want to do it myself because I am a nerd). I have unlimited access to a biology lab including a PCR and any type of agar you can think of but I don't even know how to go about starting a herpes culture. What type of medium might I be able to grow a culture on? as far as the test goes, I was thinking about doing a PCR to look for viral DNA...will this work or is HSV an RNA virus? I seem to remember from cell bio that a PCR will be able to denature RNA too though...I don't know...share your thoughts please!