If you have questions about cold sores, read this short article now. You will quickly see what cold sores are and what damage they can do to you.

WHAT ARE COLD SORES?

Cold sores really interfere with our lives. Painful and unsightly, cold sores greatly affect your personal and social life.

Cold Sores are the exact same sore as fever blisters and oral herpes. They appear and reappear at the site of initial infection. The lip area is the most frequent infection site.

Herpes simplex virus, either type 1 or type 2, produces all cold sores. It is a very damaging virus, as you will see.

The herpes virus enters your body wherever it is able and will choose a close-by nerve as its home for life. The cold sores created by this virus family will always be at the end of the nerve fiber it inhabits.

WHAT IS THE CAUSE OF PAINFUL COLD SORES?

Most of the time this herpes virus will sleep in the root cells of its home nerve. If it becomes active, it will wiggle to the surface through the nerve and drill into your surface nerve cells.

The herpes virus is not able to create new virus by itself. It needs your nerve cells to do the work. When a herpes virus particle enters a cell, it forces the cell to create new virus – as a true parasite.

Swelling of the area occurs as the cells fill up with the virus particles they are creating. When the cell is full to capacity, the controlling virus destroys it dumping out millions of new viruses.

The destruction of many cells close together causes the open cold sore. These cold are quite painful to the touch because the nerve tips are exposed.

IS THE COLD SORE VIRUS CONTAGIOUS?

The herpes simplex virus is an extremely tiny living particle. It enters the body through soft tissue – like lips – or through cracks in the skin. You are very contagious from the first itching until the final healing redness is gone.

Contaminated fingers and kissing are the most common ways you pass this virus to others. Do not touch the cold sore with bare fingers and always sterilize your hands after any cold sore treatment.

You can spread the cold sore to any place on your body. You can get cold sores on your fingers, arm or cheek if the virus gets through a crack or other sore to the soft tissue. These can be more painful than common lip sores.

Watch out for your eyes. People do get cold sores in the eyes and it can cause permanent damage.

The herpes simplex virus infects nearly 90% of the world population because it is so tough and contagious. You usually contract it in your youth. About 70% of those infected will get one or more outbreaks per year.

HOW CAN I GET RID OF MY COLD SORES?

The most common trigger activating the herpes simplex virus is stress. When you have stress, your body prepares to deal with it. This causes a change in hormones and a drop in your pH toward the acid side. Herpes loves an acid body.

Your body needs no help from you to heal oral herpes cold sores. But it is a slow process, often taking up to four weeks. You can cut this healing time in half with a good cold sore treatment.

Natural home cold sore treatment methods are still your best choice. They give much greater success than the prescription drugs and store-bought remedies and will save you money.

Some of the best cold sore treatment tactics include lysine, garlic oil and zinc. Although lysine and zinc work best internally (supplements), all three can be used topically as well.

Constant cleansing of the cold sore area using alcohol or hydrogen peroxide is critical care too.

No doubt about it – oral herpes cold sores damage your social life as well as your lip. Yes, they are hard to cope with. But now, with the knowledge you have just gained, you are much more prepared for the next battle.

It takes a little trial and error to find the best cold sore treatment for your own needs. But when you do, you will enjoy beautiful cold sore freedom.

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