It starts with that telltale little tingle, and within a day or two, you have nasty little red sores around your mouth. No one likes to have a cold sore outbreak, but fortunately, there are new treatments available to help you minimize the pain and speed the healing. Here’s the inside scoop on the latest cold sore remedies.
What Causes a Cold Sore?You can blame a version of the herpes virus for those painful little red cold sores — both herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) and herpes simplex virus 2 (HSV-2) can cause sores around the mouth, and genital herpes as well. Once you’ve been infected with the cold sore virus, it never fully goes away. It can lie dormant for months before aggravating factors like stress, hormonal shifts, or sun exposure trigger a new outbreak.
If you’ve never had a cold sore, you can prevent infection with the virus by avoiding sharing utensils with anyone who’s been infected with the virus — or kissing or touching his or her mouth. (And for good measure, keep your own hands away from your mouth — the virus can be passed on that way.)
If you’ve already been infected with the virus, keeping your lips moisturized and protected with sunscreen can help minimize the number of outbreaks you have. To avoid spreading your infection, don’t touch cold sores (wash hands thoroughly if you do touch them), and avoid kissing and other close contact with loved ones during an outbreak.
At-Home Cold Sore Remedies
There’s no real quick fix when it comes to cold sores — it usually takes several days for the blister to dry up and disappear. But there are a few treatments you can try to minimize the pain and shave a few days off your healing time.
There’s no real quick fix when it comes to cold sores — it usually takes several days for the blister to dry up and disappear. But there are a few treatments you can try to minimize the pain and shave a few days off your healing time.
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Apply an ice pack or even an ice-cold tea bag to your cold sore to help reduce the swelling and take a little of the sting out of the sore.
New remedies on the market, like Abreva and Zilactin, can help reduce the pain and may shorten the healing time by a day or two. These treatments will help most if you apply them as soon as you start to feel the cold sore tingle.
If the cold sore really hurts, take an over-the-counter pain medication like acetaminophen or ibuprofen — they may help reduce the swelling as well.
Medical Cold Sore Treatments
If you’re constantly getting cold sores, your doctor may decide to prescribe an antiviral medication — either a cream or ointment or an oral medication — to help squelch the outbreaks and keep the virus under control.
If you’re constantly getting cold sores, your doctor may decide to prescribe an antiviral medication — either a cream or ointment or an oral medication — to help squelch the outbreaks and keep the virus under control.
2 comments:
If you can, place a thin slice of lemon over the area where you feel the itch of a cold sore starting. Hold it in place with medical tape if necessary. Replace with a fresh slice every few hours. Earache Remedies
Thanks dynamo and remedyherbal for giving a nice suggestion about the cold sore.
Gregory Moore
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