What Should I Do If I Have a Cold Sore?

Having a cold sore is always a painful and annoying experience. Also for many adults there is an added element of shame related to the connotations a cold sore on your face can have.

Unfortunately there is no cure for cold sores and no way to prevent them once they have started. However there are lots of different products out there to help relieve the nasty symptoms and pain you can experience with cold sores.

There are also medicines and creams that speed up the life cycle of cold sores so that they go away in a matter of days, rather than a matter of weeks. There are also some products available that ‘cover-up’ the cold sore at the same time as healing them so you can stop feeling self-conscious.

Extremely Contagious

Cold sores are a highly contagious infection so your primary concern when you have a cold sore should not be on being self-conscious but on not spreading the infection. Cold sores are the physical symptoms that flare up of the herpes simplex virus (HSV-1).

As mentioned before, cold sores can be embarrassing for adults as people confuse them as a sign of genital herpes. However, genital herpes is generally caused by another strand of the herpes virus, HSV-2 and although this can also cause facial herpes, and vice versa HSV-1 can cause genital herpes, this is not very common. But for this reason it is very important that when you have a cold sore to avoid touching your genital area if your hands have been in contact with your infected mouth.

So What Should You Do?

The safest option is to wash your hands before and after going to the bathroom. You should wash your hands frequently when you do have a cold sore as this same principal applies for the rest of your body as a cold sore can show up anywhere.

As well as being concerned about not spreading the infection on yourself, you need to make sure you do not go infecting others. Cold sores can spread through direct and indirect contact. This means that when you have a cold sore you should not exchange any kisses or share anything your lips have had contact with, such as drinks or lip balms. You should also be very careful not to share face or wash cloths and to not share towels when you have a cold sore.