More than half of the American population carries the herpes simplex 1 virus. That means that millions of folks have suffered from the painful sores at least once in our lifetime. It is a recurring experience, a nightmare at that. Billions of dollars have been spent thus far to research for a complete cold sore treatment but it has not been successful till date. But there are some simple tips that you must know to keep those sores in check.
Though cold sores tend to heal within 7 to 10 days without any cold sore treatment, the fact remains that the duration can seem like a lifetime to sufferers. The painful blisters that form on your skin, mostly on your lips could cause much discomfort and itch. It is common knowledge that cold sores are not curable, but there are various forms of cold sore treatment to minimize the discomfort and pain, and its infectious period.
Here I would like to share 10 simple tips to treat cold sores:
1. Apply acyclovir on the cold sore immediately upon discovery of the symptoms. Do this for 5 times daily over the next 5 days. It would help to reduce the duration of the outbreak.
2. Drape a cold compress such as ice wrapped with cloth over the cold sore. You will be surprised that this simple cold sore treatment offers much pain and itch relief.
3. Take acetaminophen or ibuprofen.
4. Avoid touching other parts of your body after contact with your cold sores. The herpes simplex virus is contagious and the last thing you want is to spread it.
5. Keep your hands clean. Remember to wash them thoroughly after applying medication on the cold sores.
6. Take herbal treatments such as antiseptics Tea Tree Oil and Sage, etc. Seek medical advice before attempting this cold sore treatment.
7. Use painkillers like aspirin, paracetamol, etc.
8. Use medication containing anesthetic agents such as benzocaine which alleviates the pain.
9. Apply a tea bag over the cold sores. Tannic acid, an antiviral agent that can be found in tea is effective for cold sore treatment.
10. Take sufficient rest, and keep your body hydrated. The simple truth remains that our body will naturally heal when well-rested.
I have benefited much from these simple tips. I hope they would help you too in your cold sore treatment.

Take 4 500mg Lysine at first sign of a cold sore. Take 1 each morning and 1 each evening for a few days and if caught early enough it will not progress but go away completely. If not caught early enough it will greatly reduce the amount of time for the outbreak and make the severity less. Lysine is very inexpensive and can be found in the vitamin section.

Hi Shane/sunnygirl,
I looked for research to see if these wonderful results were backed up by science and I couldn't find it, could you post your links to this spectacular results. From what I found using acyclovir could only give a 9 day duration of cold sore compared to 10.1 for non-treated patients {placebo}

Journal List > Antimicrob Agents Chemother > v.46(6); Jun 2002

PubMed articles by:
Evans, T.
Bernstein, D.
Raborn, G.
Spruance, S.


Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2002 June; 46(6): 1870–1874.
doi: 10.1128/AAC.46.6.1870-1874.2002.

PMCID: PMC127265
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology
Double-Blind, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Study of Topical 5% Acyclovir-1% Hydrocortisone Cream (ME-609) for Treatment of UV Radiation-Induced Herpes Labialis
T. G. Evans,1* D. I. Bernstein,2 G. W. Raborn,3 J. Harmenberg,4,5 J. Kowalski,4,5 and S. L. Spruance6
University of Rochester, Rochester, New York,1 Children's Hospital Research Foundation, Cincinnati, Ohio,2 University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada,3 Medivir AB, Huddinge,4 Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden,5 University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah6
*Corresponding author. Present address: Division of Infectious Diseases, University of California, Davis, 4150 V St., PSSB 500, Sacramento, CA. Phone: (916) 734-3741. Fax: (916) 734-7766. E-mail: tgevans@ucdavis.edu.
Received November 12, 2001; Revised January 4, 2002; Accepted March 14, 2002.


Abstract
Immunopathology is recognized as an important component of infectious disease manifestations, and corticosteroids have been used as an adjunct to antimicrobial therapy for a variety of conditions. Antiviral therapy of herpes labialis has been shown to result in only a small reduction in the time to healing and the duration of pain. To determine if topical application of a combination product containing 5% acyclovir and 1% hydrocortisone (ME-609) could provide benefit to herpes labialis patients, 380 immunocompetent adults with a history of herpes labialis were exposed to experimental UV radiation (UVR) to induce a recurrence. On day 2, just before the appearance of the majority of lesions (“delayed” lesions), subjects were randomized to receive active medication or vehicle control six times per day for 5 days. Overall, 120 of 380 patients developed delayed classical lesions, of whom 50 of 190 (26%) had been treated with ME-609 and 70 of 190 (37%) had received placebo (a reduction of 29% [P = 0.02]). Healing time, measured as the time to normal skin, was reduced by treatment with ME-609 (9.0 days for treated patients versus 10.1 days for the controls [P = 0.04]). There was a trend toward a reduction in the maximum lesion size in the ME-609 recipients compared to that in the controls (43 versus 60 mm2, respectively [P = 0.07]). The treatment had no effect on lesion pain, but ME-609 treatment reduced the number of patients with moderate or severe tenderness. Compared to treatment with a placebo, treatment with the combination antiviral-immunomodulatory cream provided benefit to patients with experimental UVR-induced herpes labialis, reducing classical lesion incidence, healing time, lesion size, and lesion tenderness. ME-609 is a novel product that merits further evaluation as a treatment for cold sores.

Cheers

Hi John
Thanks again for bringing it back to evidenced based !
What are your thoughts about using oil of oregano at the early onset of a cold sore?...I have a friend that swears by it.
Tracey

Hi Tracey,
A lot of herbalists swear by it but I can not find any high quality studies that have been done on oregano for herpes. If I had cold sores I would give it a go but n=1 is pretty hard to extrapolate from.

There is no reason why pharmaceutical researchers would publish positive results on oregano oils if it competed with a patented preparation of theirs, this is where, in my opinion, meta- analysis falls down, all of the papers are not published whether they are positive or negative, so you are only drawing from a select pool of papers.

Cheers