Cold Sores

Cold sores are a type of facial lesion that is found on the lips or else close to the mouth. Some people call these fever blisters. People think that you are exposed to some kind of germ but this is not the case. This is caused from the herpes virus living inside our body. The cold sores lay dormant and they become reactivated.

The signs are fever, irritability, headache and pain while swallowing. After a cold sore appears, your mouth becomes painful and your gums get inflamed. Tiny blisters can form throughout your mouth. The blisters will rupture and become gray colored ulcers. Finally the ulcers will heal but usually takes 10 to 14 days to run its course. You can transfer this to someone else through kissing. Also, touching the sore and then touching someone else without washing your hands will transfer this as well. Fingers, eyes, and other parts of the body can get infected through contact. You need to wash your hands as soon as possible. Sometimes the virus will spread with no symptoms at all.

You and everyone else in the world have this virus inside of us. Sometimes stress can trigger cold sores. Sunburn, burning your lips on hot food, biting it, and kissing can cause these as well. Another factor is mental stress such as weddings or going to a reunion can cause this to happen. Of course no one can avoid stress. There are several medications that treat cold sores. You need to start right at the beginning of one. At the first outbreak you can treat with oral medicines. Recurrences can be treated with topical medications. Icing the sore can be a great pain reliever. Make sure you keep moving the ice pack around. No more than 10 to 15 minutes at a time. Covering a cold sore with petroleum jelly will help speed healing. There are many different ointments available in your local drugstore which will also help.

There are home remedies you can try too. Lemons you can put on the sore and leave as long as you like. Vitamin C is another great remedy. Apple cider vinegar is one of the oldest remedies that people have used for cold sores. Believe it or not, it really works. Garlic is yet another useful remedy. Garlic can destroy several virus types. Raw milk is another one that you can try. As you can see, there are a lot of ointments and medications that you can buy right from your local drugstore. Going to the doctors is one way to fight this too. The doctor can give you prescription medicine to try. You need to start treatment right at the first signs of one coming on. They are painful and embarrassing but you can get rid of them.