diff --git a/src/showdown.js b/src/showdown.js
index b488bad..c0a531a 100644
--- a/src/showdown.js
+++ b/src/showdown.js
@@ -1133,7 +1133,10 @@ var _DoItalicsAndBold = function(text) {
 	text = text.replace(/(\*\*|__)(?=\S)([^\r]*?\S[*_]*)\1/g,
 		"<strong>$2</strong>");
 
-	text = text.replace(/(\*|_)(?=\S)([^\r]*?\S)\1/g,
+	text = text.replace(/^(\*|_)(?=\S)([^\r]*?\S)\1/g,
+		"<em>$2</em>");
+
+	text = text.replace(/ (\*|_)(?=\S)([^\r]*?\S)\1 /g,
 		"<em>$2</em>");
 
 	return text;