Do you have cold sore questions? Then this article is just for you. Read it and discover many amazing facts about cold sores and what you can do about them.

WHAT IS A COLD SORE?

Cold sores always seem to appear at the worst time. A cold sore is painful and embarrassing, and it definitely hurts your social life.

Whether you call them cold sores, fever blisters or oral herpes, they are all the same infection. Cold sores can appear anywhere the virus can get through your skin. The lip area is usually the first infection site.

The herpes simplex virus is the parasite virus that causes cold sores. A cold sore is actually the side effect of the herpes replication process.

When the herpes virus first enters your body, it will claim a nearby nerve fiber as its lifetime home. All cold sores produced by this virus family will be at the surface end of that nerve fiber.

WHAT CAUSES A COLD SORE?

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.

The cold sore area will swell up as the cells fill up with the new virus particles. Once full, the cells burst open to release tons of this fresh herpes virus.

When the herpes virus annihilates many cells, you end up with an open wound called a cold sore. Painful they are because you now have exposed nerve endings.

IS THE COLD SORE VIRUS CONTAGIOUS?

The herpes simplex virus is a tiny, sub-microscopic particle. It enters the body through contact with your soft tissue – like lips. If you have a skin crack, it will enter there too. You are very contagious during the entire event.

Kissing is the most common way to infect others. Contaminated fingers can cause new cold sore sites on you and others too. Please be very cautious. Sterilize the wound and your hands constantly.

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.

Be especially careful not to infect your eyes. A cold sore on the cornea will cause serious injury.

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.

Without a doubt, oral herpes cold sores really put the hurts to your social life. They are very difficult to deal with. With what you have just read, you should now have a huge advantage the next time a cold sore attacks.

You need to try different cold sore treatment methods to discover the best one for you. Then you too can be cold sore free for the rest of your life.

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