Cold Sore Remedy & Treatment

Cold sores, often referred to as fever blisters or herpes simplex virus, are small blisters that appear around the mouth. Symptoms include a blister that burns and itches on the mouth. Many types of treatments for the symptoms exist, including prescription, over-the-counter and home remedies.

Prescription Treatment

• Both topical and oral prescription medications exist. Topical medications, those applied on the blister, go on much like skin lotion. One such topical medication is penciclovir, whose brand name is Denavir. This is applied to the cold sore once every two hours. Oral medications include valacyclovir (Valtrex) and acyclovir (Zovirax).

Over-The-Counter Remedies

• One of the newest over-the-counter cold sore treatments is docosanol, sold as Abreva at pharmacies. This drug has the ability to interfere with the way the cold sore virus is spread. The cold sore can also be treated with numbing agents such as camphor, lidocane, tetracaine, benzyl alcohol and phenol. Camphor, sold under the brand name Campho-Phenique, and lidocane, found in medicines such as Orajel, can also calm the burn and itch of the lesions.

Home Remedies

• Treatments that do not require a trip to the doctor or pharmacy include things in many people's homes such as ice and salt. Other remedies include the use of L-Lysine and witch hazel.
  Ice can be applied directly to the blister. The ice can be allowed to melt entirely, although most who use the ice treatment will apply it for a few minutes every hour. The ice acts to calm the itch and burn.
  Salt can be applied to the cold sore, however this method burns while acting as a drying agent.
  Some people use toothpaste on the sore at night. This method, like salt, dries the cold sore.
  Witch hazel is also recommended as a natural remedy for its anti-itch properties.
  L-Lysine has been taken for years as a dietary supplement for cold sore sufferers. The capsules, available at pharmacies and health food stores, has a recommended dosage of 500 mg twice per day to treat and prevent cold sores.

Warnings

• As with any type of treatment, those listed here should be carried out only under a doctor's supervision.