How to Get Rid of a Cold Sore

Cold Sores aren’t your normal zits and pimples.  It’s an infection that’s caused by the herpes simplex.  And bad news there is no cure for it, so don’t listen to any miracle products that will cure you of this.  There is no way to permanently get rid of a cold sore.  The cold sore lasts for 7-14 days.  But there ware ways to help ease and quicken the process.

Cold sores appear around your mouth and looks and acts like pimple, except more painful.  It follows the life cycle of a zit as it breaks, and a scab takes its place.  And when the scabs fall off, the cold sore becomes communicable.  It is very important to not have direct contact with anybody with your mouth.

Afterwards the herpes virus hides dormant in your body until it is triggered again by: stress, sun burn, and any other skin problems you might encounter in life.

Methods on how to Get Rid of a Cold Sore

Now there are no permanent ways of getting rid of them, but there are some ways to reduce the time they stay on your face and ease the annoying tingling feeling.

Avoid Touching the Infected Area

I know it hurts; we’ve all experienced it before, but touching it will not help.  In fact it will make it worse.  Your hands are dirty, and touching it will most likely cause bacterial infections to your wound.  Not only that you can get the virus on your hand, and unknowingly pass in on to someone else.

Go See Your Doctors to Help Get Rid of a Cold Sore

You might think it’s ridiculous to go see a doctor for a “pimple problem”, but I assure you, it’s not a pimple problem.  Pimples are bacterial infections; cold sores are viral infections.  The quicker you see a doctor for recommended prescription will be able to heal faster and move on with their lives.

Get Medications

Cold sores are here to stay, and the faster you can accept this fact, the quicker you can help get rid of it temporarily.  Go see your doctors for their recommendation of medications you can take to reduce the multiplication of the herpes simplex virus in your body, decreasing the amount of cold sores you might get and help speed up the recovery process.

Get Medical Creams

Like the medications you can take, these creams can help you reduce and ease the pain of cold sores.  Be on the lookout for cold sores, because if you apply this early, it has medically been shown to lessen the effects of the herpes simplex virus.

Keep the Area Clean

Washing your face and applying medications daily will do wonders in helping you ease the pain (both physically and mentally) and help you heal faster.  Not to mention you would avoid the risk of infecting others.

Another important thing to do is to dispose of anything you used that had contact with your mouth (toothbrush, towels, lipsticks, etc) to avoid the risk of contamination anyone else living with you.’

Cover Up Your Cold Sore with Petroleum Jelly

Petroleum jelly or Vaseline can help protect your mouth from bacterial infections from your day to day life. This will really help speed up your recovery process and avoid any other painful bacterial infections.

Avoid Salty or Citrus Foods

Food containing a high concentration of salt (French fries) or citrus (oranges) will cause your cold sore to tinge even more and make it even more painful to you.  It’s best to avoid eating these types of food when you notice you have cold sores.

How to Prevent Getting Cold Sores

As you know once you have cold sores, it’s already too late for recovery.  However the Herpes Simplex Virus can stay dormant for a prolong time.  It’s bound to come out eventually, but there are ways to prevent it from coming out frequently.

Avoid Sun Damage/ Stay Away From the Sun

Now, I’m not telling you to never leave your house ever again, but if possible, try to avoid having the sun directly heat up your mouth area.  And this leads us to my next advice.

Apply Sunscreen around Your Mouth

Applying sunscreen around your mouth will help you avoid sun damage to your mouth area and avoid bothering the virus in its state of dormancy (remember when I said sun damage can cause the virus to become active again).

Avoid Stress

Stress is another cause of the Cold Sores showing up again.  If you are able to control your stress, then you are able to control how often the virus shows up.

Live a Healthy Life

If you’re not doing so already, having a proper diet, exercising, and getting a well amount of rest will help your body stay strong and help keep the cold sore under control.

It is impossible to get rid of a cold sore.  However following these advices, you should be able to avoid getting them frequently, and help recover and ease your pain faster.

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