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How to get rid of stuff » Health Problems » How to Get Rid of Cold Sores
 

How to Get Rid of Cold Sores

November 7th, 2009 by MartinDodge
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Cold Sores

Riddle: How is a cold sore like a brother-in-law visiting from out-of-town for the week?

Answer: You can't dispose of either of them easily; you usually have to wait until they go away.

What is a Cold Sore?

Unlike brothers-in-law, cold sores are not irritants brought on by marriage but are small, painful infections that attack skin and nerves, look like chicken pox, and are caused by the herpes simplex virus. They can appear on various parts of your body but usually show up on the lips and, less commonly, on the nose. They start invisibly with a tingling sensation, followed two days later by the red, fluid-filled pustules that we call cold sores or fever blisters or, simply, “those disgusting looking things." And there they sit, painful to the touch, for a week to 10 days.

Unlike canker sores, with which they are often confused, they seldom appear inside the mouth (Tips on how to relieve pain from canker sores).

During that 7-to-10-day period, the blisters break, ooze, and form a yellow crust. They thus get even uglier. The scabs then fall off, and the skin heals without scarring. During that period, the sores are communicable through direct contact with others (or with yourself) or through an intermediary like a towel or razor. So, if you can actually find someone who will kiss you on the lips during that period, refuse them that dubious privilege.

After that's over, and your skin is back to normal, you might be fooled into thinking the virus causing the infection has died and gone off to virus limbo. No, it doesn't. It becomes dormant in the skin's nerve cells and can be reawakened quickly by such things as stress, menses, a fever, or getting a sunburn. The first infection by the virus usually occurs in childhood; once the virus enters the body, it remains there forever. The first outbreak is typically the most severe as no antibodies have been produced to resist it. Meningitis is a possible complication.

Cold Sore Treatments

Unless you really like hanging around clinics, there is generally no need to visit a doctor to get cold sores treated. Non-prescription ointments are available to ease the pain, and an oral analgesic may also help. That said, however, there is a remote chance of complications. For instance, if the infection spreads to the eyes, the result can be blindness. There is also increased risk of more serious infections for people with defective immune systems or eczema, and also for infants. So if you are in a group at increased risk, or if you are having severe symptoms, or if there is an itching in your eye while you have cold sores, or if you have a crush on your medical care provider, it's best to see your doctor. Whatever you do, avoid touching your eye after touching a cold sore. Wash your hands frequently to avoid spreading the disease.

Severe infections can be brought under control – they may be treated with a prescription cream, Zovirax. But, regardless of its severity, no cold sore can actually be cured. If treated early, however, the period of viral activity can be shortened with drugs like Penciclovir, Aciclovire, Valicyclovir, and Ganciclovir. A derivative of castor oil, undecylenic acid, is also thought to be effective against viral skin infections.

Preventing Cold Sores

  • Use a lip moisturizer if your lips tend to be dry or chapped; when outdoors, use a sunscreen lip balm with an SPF of at least 15
  • Limit your exposure to sun or UV lamps
  • Avoid stress (See how to get rid of stress)
  • In support of your immune system, follow a healthy diet and sleep regimen
  • Avoid skin contact with others who have cold sores or with any cups/glasses/cans, utensils or towels they have used, and avoid sharing food with them
  • Wash your hands frequently.

There are those who promote various cold sore remedies for terminating them early or even preventing them from starting up (Learn how to treat a cold sore). You will find dozens of them, involving such things as nail polish remover , here. Try them at your own risk, and please feel free to add any of your own cold sore home remedies to this page using the form below.

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    1. wanda Says:
      October 14th, 2009 at 10:49 pm

      this should do the trick. thanks.

    2. David Says:
      October 13th, 2009 at 1:01 pm

      Jessica:

      The blog on “How to kill a cold sore in one day” by Lab Rat v-Ki-ras2

      EXCELLENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    3. Carrie Says:
      October 12th, 2009 at 3:28 am

      I have 5 or 6 on my top and bottom lips… As if being bedridden for 5 days with the flu wasnt bad enough, now i am feeling well enough to get out of bed i dont want to leave the house coz these hideous little f***ers have taken over my face. Tried the tea bag it seems to be doing the trick. Where are all you people getting hydrogrn peroxide from???? Lol

    4. ande Says:
      October 8th, 2009 at 2:39 pm

      lysine works. take 500mg twice a day as soon as you feel it coming on whether it’s a cold sore or canker sore this will work for you. it will be gone in 1-3 days. you can buy this at any drug store 500 mg tabs.

    5. Kelsey Says:
      October 8th, 2009 at 11:40 am

      Uhh I am getting going to a wedding in 2 days and i have a dang cold sore! I have always gotten them about 3 times a year. I started taking Valtrex in the first stage of a cold sore. and let me tell you people it works! You only need about 4-6 pills. I know they are ment for people with herpes but this in deed works. i need to get my butt to the doc ASAP! :) hope this helps!

    6. kymm Says:
      October 6th, 2009 at 9:18 am

      i was looking in the mirror on sunday night and noticed i had a swollen lip on top, i thought oh its just nothing so i carried on as normal as u do. eventually i went bed woke up in the mornin to refresh myself. as i had a BIG FAT HUGE colesaw on my lipp! yikess:/
      i used a needle & popped all the gunge out then sprayed aftershave/perfume on it it eventually heals it and goes dry & now mines just scabbing & they are falling off, it’ll be gone in bout 2more days maybe 1 (:
      cant wait till its eventually gonee tho
      dun my head in, ive got my skool foto tommorow aswell! :( thanks kym
      x

    7. Jes-D Says:
      October 5th, 2009 at 10:53 pm

      The blog by Lab Rat v-Ki-ras2 is called “How to kill a cold sore in one day” but it was moved to Wordpress? and now I can’t find it. Please help! I used the treatment myself which was incredible, but I can’t remember all the procedures now. Do you know where the blog is Carrie?????????

    8. Carrie Says:
      October 3rd, 2009 at 6:58 pm

      There is an AMAZING blog by this person called Lab Rat v-Ki-ras2 updated daily. It does show how to cure a cold sore in a single day. It’s not some lame company trying to sell you some useless crap either. It’s simply a technique along with a set of preventive procedures. Before when I got an outbreak, my lip was usually very sore for 12-15 days. When I came across this blog in November (sorry meant last year in 2008), I tried the treatment and it freaking worked! By day two it was gone! The blog said it would be cured in a day, but for me it took two. Big deal! I can live with two days vs 15 NO PROBLEM.

    9. k_up Says:
      September 30th, 2009 at 12:01 pm

      This is ridiculous. I have had cold sores since te second grade I haven’t had one in a few years and then all of a sudden I get the tingling while I am work so I have nothing to apply. I went to buy some of the tea tree oil so we will see how that works. I went to my dermatologist to get a perscription but he couldn’t give me anything because I am pregnant. UGH! I am too much of a wuss to pop it and try the nail polish and ice cube stuff so I hope this works. wish me luck and best of luck to all of u!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    10. Sufferer Says:
      September 17th, 2009 at 4:21 pm

      DO NOT PICK OR POP!!! Cold sores are ugly and very painful. I have been suffering from cold sores my entire life. My experience with them is leaving them alone-DO NOT TOUCH! If you pop or pick at the cold sore it will spread throughout your mouth/face. Scary and not pleasant! I take L-Lysine when I get a cold sore and also when the cold sore is gone. I find that taking L-Lysine daily reduces the occurrence of my outbreaks. Trust me when I say this, I used to get cold sores at least 4 times a year before I started taking L-Lysine and now I only get them once a year! So much better! So my fellow sufferers, do not pick or pop your cold sores. Just let nature take over and heal your blisters. It’s more embarrassing healing an overgrown cold sore from popping and picking than the cold sore you started with!

      Hope this helps! I feel for all of you!!

    11. Andrew Says:
      September 13th, 2009 at 9:50 am

      how will ice effect the blister? does it help? i woke up this morning with this cold sore, and i start my new job tomorrow,…this is so embarrassing, i need desperate help, anyone?

    12. Jacqueline Says:
      September 6th, 2009 at 4:42 pm

      Argh cold sores,why do we need them they’re no use to me
      it’s usally my sister who gets them
      if you want the pain to go away apply heaps of vaseline
      i can hardly feel it’s there now!

    13. georgina Says:
      September 2nd, 2009 at 12:14 pm

      UPDATE:

      okay so I woke up to a complete scab! It has officially dried out =).. I decided against an application of toothpaste last night because my sore had already started scabbing up and I know that added a sticky substance on a scab wouldn’t be too smart because wen I try removing the toothpaste it could rip off the scab and I would have to start all over!

      So I did the nailpolish remover thing for maybe 15minutes afterwards I applied cold water on a cotton ball and pressed firmly on my scab until it was warm. Went to bed, woke up and it’s completely dried out.

      Now I need to find out how to rid of cold sore scabs but all I know is that I WON’T PICK IT - that’s the worst thing to do as a scab is there to protect the new skin that is forming and I want that! lol .. I researched once more and discovered that medication creams with menthol should be applied continuously until the scab is soft enough to remove or until it falls off on it’s own — luckily I found some Blistex and it is working great.

      I expect new skin in around 2 - 3 days, but til then I can actually go out because a small scab isn’t as noticeable as a nasty huge cold sore! ugh..

      GOOD LUCK EVERYONE AND THANKS FOR THE TIPS!!!

    14. georgina Says:
      September 1st, 2009 at 10:26 pm

      I’m 19 and got my first cold sore in 6th grade after borrowing lipgloss from a friend lol .. after that I’ve only got it 2 other times. I feel a tingle sometimes but it never gets full blown.

      Well yesterday I don’t know what happened but that tingle actually developed into a cold sore! It’s been a while since I got one, a few years ago so now that I’m internet savy I’ve been researching!

      Yesterday before I went to sleep on the left corner of my bottom lip there were tiny little bubbles so I put toothpaste on it and just went to sleep! I woke up to a swollen lip!! After the research first thing I did was the nail polish remover lol! It stung really bad but i didn’t care! then I did the ice cube in a ziplock bag until it melt than the tea bag than toothpathste - I only kept it on for maybe an hour than wiped it off with cold tap water. After wiping it off I left my lip alone.. I did all of this in the duration of 3 hrs, I started at 8pm finished at 11.

      and right now it’s 12:25 in the mornin and my sore is already scabbing (drying out)!!

      I think I will do ice cube and nail polish again - toothpaste than wipe it off and sleep.. I’ll update you guys tomorrow!! WISH ME LUCK!

    15. Parvesh Says:
      September 1st, 2009 at 8:33 am

      Tea Tree oil, Chamomile oil, or Peppermint oil, all soothe the pain, and if you apply it as soon as you can feel your cold sore triggering off, it usually won’t come up, but if it is big already, Tea Tree oil will dry it up the same day or maybe the next day, depending on the size. After it will just fall off.

      They all soothe the itching and scratching, and give off a cooling and calming effect, so anyone of them will do.

      Try to get the CONCENTRATED OILS, they work better and faster.

    16. Parvesh Says:
      September 1st, 2009 at 8:29 am

      Tea tree oil, chamomile oil, oir peppermint oil usually gets rid of my cold sore the next day, or even the same day, as soon as you feel it under your skin waiting to come, apply one of these oils and it usually goes away before coming up.

      Tea tree oil will dry up a cold sore thats pretty big. but the rest of the oils will do the same thing (concentrated oils), and they also prevent the itching, and really soothes the irritation.

    17. Laura Says:
      August 25th, 2009 at 6:45 pm

      What you will need:
      *needle
      *kleenex
      *alcohol
      *ice cube
      *clean plastic bag or ziplock bag

      OKay so this is what i do to get rid of my cold sores!!

      1.-I put an ice cube in a small ziplock bag and place it on the infected area (make sure your hands are well sanatized as well as the bag).

      2.-Then i grab my needle and cleanse it with alcohol.
      …..with that same needle i poke the crap out of that sucker! poke the sore so that the liquid comes out (Yuck i know).

      3.-Then i damp a kleenex tissue or napkin with alcohol and place it on the cold sore ! ya it will sting! i also sqeeze my lip to try to get the most out of it!

      4.-I then grab a new ice cube and place it in another ziplock bag! i leave it on my lip until the icecube melts. just relax and dont stress too much about it! and never share drinks or chapsticks because thats mostly how u can trigger the cold sore in the begining. carmex has made my sore worse before and abreva only works on stopping the cold sore before it developes. well at least on me !

    18. alexis Says:
      August 25th, 2009 at 12:57 am

      I have been getting cold sores for years… i find that nothing really worked. then i just finally left them alone… popped the blister and put a hot cloth on it every couple of hours and sometimes i would put polysporn on it and it would go away within 2-3 days.

    19. Sam Says:
      August 23rd, 2009 at 10:58 am

      I always get a coldsore at the worst times, I HATE IT! They are disgusting and embarassing and no freaking website has a single tip on how to get rid of it in one day. I am beyond desperate to get rid of this. UUUUUGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! Mine are always puffy and they sometimes go higher than the lip and uunder my nose. EW. People stare, too. I guess I’ll try the ice, or tea bag. Ive been using carmax and vaseline but it doesnt seem to work. :((((((((((

      pray for me!
      please :D

    20. Rob Says:
      August 15th, 2009 at 3:30 am

      Try zovirx when you get that tingle it will stop the blister @ its tracks and wont let it get bigger.. after 10/15 hrs clean it with proxicide and put some cream on

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