How Do I Know If I Have A Cold Sore?

A cold sore is a very distinctive type of infection that occurs on your lips or around your mouth area, and in some cases they can present themselves in your nostrils. Although cold sores can occur inside the mouth, these are less common and should not be confused with canker sores, as these only ever occur inside the mouth.

Cold Sore Symptoms

You will actually be able to tell that you have a cold sore several days before anything physically appears on your skin. The virus that causes cold sores is the herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV-1) and this virus lays dormant in your nerve groups. When the virus becomes active, the virus travels down the nerves to the nerve endings just under the skin and starts to form the infection. At this point you begin to feel the symptoms of the cold sore as you can feel a tingling or irritated itch under the skin.

A few days after the initial tingling, the cold sore develops into a red spot on top of the skin which can often be filled with puss or blistery. Based on this description, the cold sore could be confused with a pimple, but if you have had the tingling in the same spot a few days before this then it definitely won’t be a pimple.

The distinct physical difference between a cold sore and a pimple is that the cold sore will begin to crust over after a few days and eventually fall off. This will then expose a new pink layer of skin which the body will heal itself.

Speeding Up The Healing Process

Unfortunately there are no medicines that can help prevent or even get rid of cold sores. The best you can do is use one of the many creams or medicines on the market designed to speed up the cold sore recovery process and relief the discomfort.

Cold sores and HSV-1 are highly contagious and are contracted through both direct and indirect contact with someone that is infectious. It is possible that you may have had the virus for a while before any physical symptoms will appear. It is unknown why HSV-1 flares up into physical symptoms, but once you have had a cold sore it is very likely you will continue to have them and likely to be in the same spot as the virus stays in your system.