Causes and Treatment of Cold Sores

Herpes simplex virus causes cold sores on lips and mouth. Cold sores are small blisters that are fluid filled and are red in color with a lot of pain. Sores can appear anywhere on the body but most common areas are nose, mouth and lips. They can be inside or outside these parts of the body. Cold sores are contagious and before healing completely they break and form a crust.

The virus causing cold sores include herpes simplex type I and type II but mostly type I is responsible for cold sores. Transition of cold sores from person to person is very much possible. Kissing or touching the body surface of the patient of cold sores can transmit the disease. Moreover, contaminated saliva also causes cold sores.

The virus enters into group of nerve cells called ganglion. They make their way to the place were they will appear later. The area starts itching, tingling, and burning before their appearance. Cold sores keep on activating and deactivating when virus is inside the body. The factors responsible for their activation include; stress, UV rays, fever, cold, weak immune system and trauma to the skin.

Cold sores usually take 7 to 10 days to fade away but if they don’t heal up after 10 days then a doctor should be consulted. Moreover, if you are having another disease along with cold sores that has weakened your immune system then taking a physician’s advice is recommended. Frequent occurrences of cold sores is not good for your health so taking medicines is desirable. You may not find any good medicine for healing cold sores but wound-be-gone has been proven to be able to treat cold sores. It not only shortens the duration of cold sores but also reduces the pain and redness associated with cold sores.

Cold sores can be prevented by taking some proper measures; people suffering from cold sores should keep themselves clean by washing hands and face, the utensils of victim should be kept separate to avoid its transference. Avoiding stress and sunburns is also another method to avoid cold sores. Cold sores prevention is not that easy because once the virus enters into your body it activates but in some cases the virus keeps sleeping after entering the body.

For relieving pain caused by cold sores ice packs can be used on the affected area that act as an anesthetic and reduces pain. Wound-be-gone is also very effective anesthetic and is used to minimize pain caused by cold sores. Wound-be-gone is good for treating cold sores as they have antiviral properties and can kill the virus or reduce its affects in the body.

Some people mix cold sores with canker sores. However, they are different as canker sores are caused by bacteria and cold sores are the result of viral infection. The main reason of their similarity is their appearance. Both are red small blisters around the lips and mouth and both are quite painful. Moreover, cold sores are contagious and are transferred from person to person but canker sores are not infectious. Cold sores are also known as fever blisters.