Cold Sore Cure

Cold sore treatments are always of vital interest for those of us who suffer those burning cold sores. There are new treatments coming out all the time. Many claim to be the final answer to your prayers. Some cold sore treatments are worth the money, and some are not.
You be the judge. Take a look at some of the more commonly used cold sore treatments that are popular right now. Please understand these are just my opinions made from personal observations. In no way should this information take the place of your personal health care provider.
Campho-Phenique: Camphorated phenol is the active ingredient, which primarily is a pain reliever and will keep bacterial infection out. There are several formulas now. One contains petroleum jelly to keep the scab soft, which greatly reduces the pain of the scab cracking when you move your lips. This has been around for many years and has been a blessing to millions of folks. One of the oldest treatments used for these sores.
Novitra: A zinc-based salve using zinc sulfate. Zinc has long been known as the healing mineral. Zinc sulfate is a good choice. Zinc sulfate is more readily absorbed into the sore and cells than most forms of zinc. This is not the total answer. But it does help the healing process, dries up the sore and helps kill the virus. A very good product but it is costly. There is no temporary pain relief so it might be best used along with a pain relief product, like mentioned above.
There is another form of zinc that I like – zinc gluconate. This form of zinc is the base of a product called “Zicam”. It comes in a gel form that is absorbed in seconds through the mucus membrane of the nose. Works great for head colds and you can put it directly on cold sores at any stage. And, it’s about half the price of Novitra. They do not yet market their products as cold sore treatments.
Abreva: The active ingredient is docosanol. Docosanol stops the cold sores from getting any bigger by forming a protective barrier around the healthy cells surrounding the cold sores. Works well in limiting size of the blister if you catch it early. But, by the time the sore blossoms, the damage is already done. A healing cold sore treatment is what you need now. Abreva makers recently paid a million dollars in a court settlement regarding false claims for this product. The studies I’ve seen show Abreva will shorten the cold sores event by two or three days. I’ve seen as good or better results just applying ice as a herpes cold sore treatment.
Releev: This treatment is based on the active ingredient benzalkonium chloride. The primary function of this chemical is antiseptic. It will cleanse and dry up cold sores. Seems to work quite well. Makers claim that this cold sore treatment is able to reduce symptoms with just one day of treatment. Maybe it does for some people, but I haven’t seen it. Do not use it if you have an allergy to the daisy flower family Do not use if you are pregnant or nursing. Would make me nervous using on kids too. There are better treatments.
Zilactin: A special gel that forms a protective film over the sore. This is actually a very good idea. It also contains a pain-relieving ingredient called “benzyl alcohol” which gives you about three hours of peace. Also contains boric acid and salicylic acid. Salicylic acid is related to aspirin. Salicylic acid normally is irritating to the skin so I question the value here. It could make the sore worse. Also, if you have an aspirin allergy – don’t use.
Lysine salves: A variety of cold sore salves available in drug and vitamin stores contain lysine. Lysine has a reputation for preventing cold sores and other forms of herpes sores. Studies show this to be true when taken internally. It helps keep you pH normal. Using lysine placed directly on the sore has not been very successful, from my personal observance. I would much rather see you try the zinc products mentioned above.
New cold sore treatments are coming out all the time. The market is huge for these products, since nearly nine out of ten people in the world carry the cold sore virus. Medical science has yet to solve this problem, but they are working hard at it.
Right now you will find that natural science is still your best solution to the age-old cold sore problem. Natural home remedies still prove to be the safest, cheapest and most effective cold sore treatments.

Cold sore treatments are always of vital interest for those of us who suffer those burning cold sores. There are new treatments coming out all the time. Many claim to be the final answer to your prayers. Some cold sore treatments are worth the money, and some are not.
You be the judge.
Take a look at some of the more commonly used cold sore treatments that are popular right now. Please understand these are just my opinions made from personal observations. In no way should this information take the place of your personal health care provider.
Campho-Phenique: Camphorated phenol is the active ingredient, which primarily is a pain reliever and will keep bacterial infection out. There are several formulas now. One contains petroleum jelly to keep the scab soft, which greatly reduces the pain of the scab cracking when you move your lips. This has been around for many years and has been a blessing to millions of folks. One of the oldest cold sore treatments.
Novitra: A zinc-based salve using zinc sulfate. Zinc has long been known as the healing mineral. Zinc sulfate is a good choice. Zinc sulfate is more readily absorbed into the sore and cells than most forms of zinc. This is not the total answer. But it does help the healing process, dries up the sore and helps kill the virus. A very good product but it is costly. There is no temporary pain relief so it might be best used along with a pain relief product, like mentioned above.
There is another form of zinc that I like – zinc gluconate. This form of zinc is the base of a product called “Zicam”. It comes in a gel form that is absorbed in seconds through the mucus membrane of the nose. Works great for head colds and you can put it directly on cold sores at any stage. And, it’s about half the price of Novitra. They do not yet market their products as cold sore treatments.
Abreva: The active ingredient is docosanol. Docosanol stops the cold sores from getting any bigger by forming a protective barrier around the healthy cells surrounding the cold sores. Works well in limiting size of cold sores if you catch it early. But, by the time the cold sore blossoms, the damage is already done. A healing cold sore treatment is what you need now. Abreva makers recently paid a million dollars in a court settlement regarding false claims for this product. The studies I’ve seen show Abreva will shorten the cold sores event by two or three days. I’ve seen as good or better results just applying ice as a herpes cold sore treatment.
Releev: This cold sore treatment is based on the active ingredient benzalkonium chloride. The primary function of this chemical is antiseptic. It will cleanse and dry up cold sores. Seems to work quite well. Makers claim that this cold sore treatment is able to reduce cold sore symptoms with just one day of treatment. Maybe it does for some people, but I haven’t seen it. Do not use it if you have an allergy to the daisy flower family Do not use if you are pregnant or nursing. Would make me nervous using on kids too. There are better cold sore treatments.
Zilactin: A cold sore gel that forms a protective film over the cold sore. This is actually a very good idea. It also contains a pain-relieving ingredient called “benzyl alcohol” which gives you about three hours of peace. Also contains boric acid and salicylic acid. Salicylic acid is related to aspirin. Salicylic acid normally is irritating to the skin so I question the value here. It could make the sore worse. Also, if you have an aspirin allergy – don’t use.
Lysine salves: A variety of cold sore salves available in drug and vitamin stores contain lysine. Lysine has a reputation for preventing cold sores and other forms of herpes sores. Studies show this to be true when taken internally. It helps keep you pH normal. Using lysine placed directly on the cold sore has not been very successful, from my personal observance. I would much rather see you try the zinc products mentioned above.
New cold sore treatments are coming out all the time. The market is huge for these products, since nearly nine out of ten people in the world carry the cold sore virus. Medical science has yet to solve this problem, but they are working hard at it.
Right now you will find that natural science is still your best solution to the age-old cold sore problem. Natural home remedies still prove to be the safest, cheapest and most effective cold sore treatments.

Herpes Simplex type I (HSV-1) is the virus that most responsible for cold sores. Cold sore infection of the mouth is very common and the appearance may cause concern but it presents no serious risks to your general health.

A cold sore is highly contagious, especially in the initial stages. The main danger involved in cold sore is spreading the infection to the eye. Seriously, you should avoid touching your eye after you touch the sore. It may cause you blindness if you are not careful with this. Touching a cold sore and then touching other places can cause spreading of the virus. Avoid kissing, sharing eating utensils or cups, towels or other such items with other person if you have cold sore.

Though it can heal within a week to 10 days without any treatment, the fact remains that the duration can be so painful and irritating to sufferers. Cold sore treatments are normally categorized into two groups: over-the-counter (OTC) medications and home remedies for cold sore.

In this article we will discuss more on home remedies for cold sore because I found that home remedies are inexpensive, easy to prepare and effective to treat it. There are several cold sore treatments that have been known to work quite well.

1. Ice is the most common treatment for cold sore. You will be surprised that this simple treatment offers much pain relief. You may send the virus back into hibernation. Ice the area 2-3 times a day for about 15 minutes a time.

2. Build your immune system against cold sores. Increase multi-vitamins and proteins intake. Infection can decrease along with the proper diet, exercise and adequate amount of sleep. Proper diet can help to shield you from the viruses and take sufficient of sleep, our body will naturally heal when well-rested.

3. Apply tea bags on your cold sores. This is because of the tannin properties found in tea which is believed that it can effectively treating a cold sore. You can consider pressing a warm tea bag on the blisters for around 30 minutes.

Cold sore treatments can be cheap and effective when prepared from home. We call them home remedies for cold sores or natural cold sore treatments. Whatever it is, they can be concocted using simple food ingredients or household products which are readily available at the supermarket. Here are some cold sore treatments to treat your cold sores.

1. Cold Sore Diet

Our diet can be modified to treat cold sores.

a. Arginine Reduction

Herpes simplex virus depends on arginine, an amino acid to grow and proliferate. So we can avoid salty and acidic foods that are rich in arginine such as chocolate, seeds, oatmeal, nuts, almonds, whole grains and peas.

b. Lysine Intake

Lysine inhibits the development and growth of herpes simplex virus. It is an essential amino acid that aids the production of antibodies and can be found in foods like red meat, cheese, soya products, milk, eggs, wheat germ, legumes, vegetables, chicken, fish and brewers yeast.

c. Caffeine Reduction

Cut back on beverages like coffee and tea. These drinks are bad for our skin on the whole.

d. Vitamins Intake

Vitamins and minerals are effective in reducing the cold sore duration; prevent recurrences and enhancing our immunity against viruses. Remember to have daily intake of Vitamin A, B complex, C and E, iron and zinc.

e. Vegetables and Fruits

Eat lots of vegetables and fruits such as broccoli, brussels sprouts, garlic and cabbage.

2. Application of Lemon Balm (Melissa Officinalis)

Lemon balm is antiviral in nature and is extremely effective against cold sores.

3. Application of Peppermint (Mentha Piperita)

Similar to lemon balm, application of peppermint on the affected area is a good cold sore treatment.

4. Application of Tea Bag

Applying a wet tea bag over the sores is yet another excellent cold sore treatment. Tea contains tannic acid, an antiviral agent.

5. Application of Resveratol

Red grapes contain resveratol which is able to suppress the herpes simplex virus. Crush them into a paste and rub it over the cold sores.

6. Application of Witch Hazel

Witch hazel has also been used as a cold sore treatment at home. It is used as a topical medication over the affected sores.

7. Application of Aloe Vera Gel or Oil

Applying aloe vera gel or oil on the cold sore helps to keep the cold sores from spreading. Repeat this at least 3 times a day. It would also offer some pain and itch relief.

8. Application of Ice

This is one of the oldest natural cold sore treatments. You probably have used it on your cold sores before. It not only slows down the cold sore development, but also alleviates the pain and itchiness.

These are some of most widely used cold sore treatments. Find more effective and natural cold sore treatments at my blog that would help you treat your cold sores quickly.

This article may be freely reprinted or distributed in its entirety in any ezine, newsletter, blog or website. The author’s name, bio and website links must remain intact and be included with every reproduction.

Cold sores are one of mother nature’s cruelest curses–they’re itchy, sometimes painful, and worst of all they cramp our social life, very severely so for some people (I know of people who simply will not leave the house at all if they have a cold sore, I mean they call in sick to work, have their spouse do all the shopping and errands, the whole nine yards).
If you’ve got a cold sore then, as you probably already know, you’re infected with the herpes simplex virus, most likely the type 1 strain (although type 2 is also capable of causing cold sores, even though it’s much less common), and you can never be completely rid of the virus, regrettably. I will say, though, that right now there’s a couple of very promising advances being made in the area of herpes vaccines–scientists have been trying for the better part of 60 years to come up with a vaccine to immunize people against the herpes virus and hopefully put an end to it for once and all like we’ve done with so many other diseases with the help of vaccines such as rabies and polo. Right now there have been two vaccines developed for HSV (herpes simplex virus), one is for treating what’s known as “shingles” (which is caused by HSV and technically known as “herpes zoster”) and is called “Zostavax”. The other vaccine, called “Herpevac”, is currently in Phase 3 trials with the National Institute of Health and is specifically designed to prevent genital herpes by immunizing women (the vaccine doesn’t work on men for some reason) against the HSV-2 strain (herpes simplex type 2). You can get more information on that by seeing the NIH website here: http://www.niaid.nih.gov/dmid/stds/herpevac/
A simple 5-step at-home procedure that I recommend to my patients for getting rid of a cold sore, and that can reduce the duration of an outbreak by up to 75%, is as follows (I must also note at this point that I do recommend that you get some anti-virals such as from your doctor, they will help, but that’s up to you):
1. Ice the cold sore once every 2 hours for 10 minutes, this will help reduce the pain and itching significantly, plus it also slows down the replication rate of the virus by slowing its metabolism which, consequently, will lessen the severity of the cold sore by the simple mechanism of reducing the number of virus particles present.
2. Keep the cold sore clean and dry by washing it once every two hours with a damp washcloth and soap, do this right after you ice it. Use a new washcloth each time you do this for sanitary purposes.
3. Apply benzyl alcohol (brand name “Zilactin”) to the cold sore with a q-tip each time after you wash it. Isopropyl alcohol may be substituted if you can’t find any benzyl alcohol.
4. Lastly, apply some nail polish remover to it with a new q-tip. This will keep the sore very dry and soak up all the fluid it may seep over the next 2 hours until you can wash it again.
5. Start taking L-lysine at a dosage of 1000mg 3 times per day–this is a simple over-the-counter supplement that can be found at your local drug store or GNC (or similar store). Lysine has been proven in multiple scientific studies to help in the treatment and prevention of cold sores (Source: Indiana University School of Medicine Study, go here to see it: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3115841 ). A quick note from that study concerning the prevention of cold sores that may interest you:
“The treatment group was given L-Lysine monohydrochloride tablets (1,000 mg L-lysine per dose) 3 times a day for 6 months. A total of 27 (6 male and 21 female) subjects on L-lysine and 25 (6 male and 19 female) subjects on placebo completed the trial. The L-lysine treatment group had an average of 2.4 (p less than 0.05) less HSV infections, symptoms were significantly (p less than 0.05) diminished in severity and healing time was significantly reduced (p less than 0.05). L-Lysine appears to be an effective agent for reduction of occurrence, severity and healing time for recurrent HSV infection.”

Cold sore treatments are essentially categorized into two broad groups, over-the-counter (OTC) medications and creams, and home cold sore remedies. In this article, we will look at OTC medications as well as home remedies for cold sores available for our use.

In case you do not know, cold sores are caused by the herpes simplex virus. Even this virus has two types, Type 1 and Type 2. Type 1 is the one that normally causes facial cold sores, though Type 2 has also been reported to cause sores on our face too even though it is mainly responsible for genital sores. Though huge investments have been poured into researching for a cure for cold sores, unfortunately, the medical industry has yet to be able to formulate a complete cold sore treatment to eliminate cold sores. What we have in the market are only medications and creams that can soothe the pain and bring itch relief and in some cases, quicken the healing process. Natural cold sore treatment seems to have answers to curing cold sores but as there have not been conclusive medical researches done in this area, only those who have benefited personally can testify of their effectiveness.

Over-The-Counter (OTC) Medications and Creams

As mentioned, such a form of cold sore treatment is primarily intended to alleviate the pain, itchiness and discomfort to the sufferer. There are others that have antiviral and antibiotic properties that inhibit the cold sore lesion development and accelerate the healing process.

1. You can easily find products containing docosanol, benzocaine, lidocaine, camphor, zinc, lysine, tetracaine or phenol off the shelf that are effective against cold sores.

2. Lip balms containing the compound petrolatum are pretty effective moisturizers. They prevent cold sores from peeling, cracking and bleeding and offer pain relief.

Home Remedies for Cold Sores

Cold sore remedies are cheap and easy to prepare cold sore treatments.

1. Applying ice at first sign of tingling for about 20 minutes and repeated applications throughout the day is effective in slowing the cold sore lesion development.

2. Topical medication containing zinc is useful

3. Applying tea bags on your cold sores is another effective cold sore treatment. As tea contains tannic acid which is antiviral, the herpes simplex virus is suppressed.

4. L-lysine (2 to 4 g) may be consumed daily under the advice of your doctor.

These are some useful cold sore treatment methods. To learn more about how to cure your cold sores naturally with effective cold sore treatment and remedies, visit my blog.

This article may be freely reprinted or distributed in its entirety in any ezine, newsletter, blog or website. The author’s name, bio and website links must remain intact and be included with every reproduction.

Natural Cold Sore Treatment by Dr. Sherman – Clinical Director of Bastyr University. Immunasure helps in Cold Sore Prevention. Check out www.SureNature.com on how to prevent cold sores and how to successfully treat them. Read articles about: Cold Sore remedy, boosting your immune system and leading a healthy life style on www.SureNature.com Cold Sores can be prevented!