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.
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 culprit that is responsible for your cold sore outbreak. The cold sore is the collateral damage caused by the herpes reproduction process.
When this virus first infects you, it will choose a nerve set nearest its entry point. It will reside in that nerve for life. All cold sores caused by this virus family will be in the same location every time – on the end of that nerve.
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.
Herpes virus cannot reproduce on its own – like bacteria does. It is the host cells that create the new virus particles. The virus will enter your surface nerve cells and force them to build virus clones.
As the cells fill up they balloon causing visible swelling of the cold sore site. The control virus will destroy the cell when it is full or exhausted. This will spill out hoards of new herpes virus.
The explosion of all these cells is the cause of the gaping open wound we call a cold sore. They are very painful because the sore is located on the end of a nerve group.
HOW CONTAGIOUS ARE COLD SORES?
The herpes virus is so tiny, many of them can hide in a single cell. This parasite virus enters your body by soft tissue contact like the lip or inside the nose. You are extremely contagious when the virus is actively creating a cold sore.
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.
Be especially careful not to infect your eyes. A cold sore on the cornea will cause serious injury.
About 90% of the people on earth carry this durable and contagious herpes virus. Approximately two-thirds of these folks will get at least one cold sore every 12 months.
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.
You will find the greatest success in fighting cold sores with natural home-type cold sore treatment remedies. They have proven to out-perform prescription drugs and over-the-counter remedies – and for much less money.
Garlic, lysine and the healing mineral zinc are three of several great cold sore treatment plans currently in use. Use all three topically, but lysine and zinc will do their best work if taken internally with supplements.
Any cold sore care plan should always include continuous cleansing using hydrogen peroxide, alcohol or wine soaked cotton balls or tissues.
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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