WHAT DOES THIS MEAN.....coldsore????

Question

Ok i put this thing where i felt my coldsore coming and after i took it off the spot(where my coldsore is) felt a bit numb and kinda cool(not cool as in popular....cool as in cold and refreshing)! What does this mean???? Is the thing i put on it working or making it worse???

O and i put warm water in a cup and held the cup up to where i feel my coldsore coming!!!

Answer 1

A coldsore is called herpes zoster and is caused from a virus. If you are prone to getting them your Dr can give you a prescription medicine called Zivorax to use at the start of a coldsore to lessen the time they usually last. They last about two weeks but the medication can help the severity and will keep them from going full blown.

Answer 2

1

Answer 3

Dance I am not sure what the brand of your cold sore medication is, so I cannot comment on its effectiveness. Perhaps you can reply with the name of the ointment you used. By the way the cool sensation you feel is probably due to camphor or eucalyptus oil, which don't directly target the herpes simplex virus, but do relieve the sensations of pain and irritation associated with the cold sore. So keep applying the ointment, it probably does have another active ingredient that has been clinically demonstrated to speed up healing time. If you want my personal recommendation, there is a new antiviral ointment called Abreva© that is FDA approved for treating cold sores. It directly prevents the virus from replicating in you skin cells. You can find it at any drug store (it's over the counter) but it is fairly expensive (about 15 dollars for a small tube). In addition, instead of putting the cup of warm water against your lip when you sense the cold sore coming, which has never shown to be effective, I would recommend you place an ice cube on you lip, perhaps wrapped in a paper towel to prevent the water from leaking. It has been demonstrated that placing ice on you lip as soon as possible after sensing that an outbreak is imminent can speed up healing time by slowing down viral replication. So I hope you have some ice in the freezer and good luck!