Almost everyone knows the feeling: you get up in the morning, look at the mirror and - discover an ugly looking cold sore on your lip. It seems to have pop up from no where. It's un-esthetic and sometimes even painful. Where did that came from?

Well, Cold sores, also known as fever blisters or oral herpes, are created by the herpes simplex virus. There are two types of HSV. HSV1 - a very common virus which causes those cold sores, and the HSV2 which causes the notorious, incurable, genital herpes. fortunately, The more common virus is the HSV1, and that's why many of us get those cold sores many times, but hopefully never get the HSV2 type.

Studies show that in fact, the HSV1 virus resides in us at all times, and the cold sore appearance is simply an outbreak of that virus. The outbreak is usually triggered by emotional stress, illness, injury to the lips or immune system deficiency. Can we completely get rid of the HSV1's presence? Probably not, but once the outbreak has occurred, there are things we can do to shorten the outbreak and get rid of that painful sore.

The means to deal with cold sores include: Over the counter medication that are in many cases based on Docosanol. This ingrediant has proven to be an effective suppressor of the HSV1 outbreak. Other medication contain compounds zinc, lysine, phenol, and tannic acid that are said have an inhibitory affect on the herpes virus particles' ability to form cold sore lesions. If one prefers herbal remedy, the herbal antiseptics Sage and Tea Tree Oil and the herbal sedative Violet are suggested as effective treatments for cold sores. And of course, there's always the good old home remedies for cold sores, such as applying a tea bag to the sore.

For more information, visit our cold sore information web site.