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When you have a sore on your lip, it is sometimes hard to tell whether you need cold sore treatment or canker sore treatment. Fortunately, the confusion is cleared up easily. Cold sores, or fever blisters, manifest with the presence of the herpes simplex virus type 1.

Usually acquired during one’s childhood through exposure to infected saliva, the herpes simplex virus type 1 is believed to be present but dormant in nerve cells until the virus is activate by anxiety, stress, colds and excessive exposure to the sun. Cold sores treatment is generally needed on the lip area because this is where the sores usually appear, lasting anywhere between seven and 14 days.

A lot of people use cold sores and canker sores interchangeably and this shouldn’t be the case because the two are different. While cold sores are caused by the herpes simplex virus type 1, canker sores are simply bacterial infections within the mouth area characterized by tiny, round, white spots that are surrounded by a red halo. Additionally, cold sores are very, very contagious whereas canker sores aren’t.

There are fever blister treatment options available but you have to keep in mind that no amount of treatment for cold sores will cure them for good. They will keep coming back and they will most likely show up in the same areas. Treating cold sores then is a matter of alleviating the discomfort they bring and hastening the healing process. The two steps in the best cold sore treatment include:

Antiviral treatment

Usually containing cold sore medicine like penciclovir or aciclovir, patches and creams are usually used for speeding up the healing time of recurrent infections. You don’t need a prescription in order to buy this fever blisters treatment at a pharmacy near you. But you have to make sure that the patch or cream is applied at the first instance that a cold sore is detected, at a time when the virus is still replicating and spreading.

Unfortunately, antiviral patches and creams are not effective in relieving the symptoms. Rather, they are more effective for recurring cold sore treatments, ensuring an outbreak doesn’t go out of hand. Apply as soon as the tingling sensation is felt and repeat up to five times a day for up to five days. The nice thing about patches is that they can be put over cold sores to hide them while they heal.

Non-antiviral treatment

Like antiviral, non-antiviral treatment is conveniently available without the need for prescriptions. However, non-antiviral treatment is more concerned about treating symptoms associated with cold sores rather than treating the cold sores themselves. You can think of non-antiviral treatment then as a form of support for your primary antiviral treatment, addressing pain, itchiness, and dryness to make cold sores more bearable. This is what makes these two steps the best treatment for cold sores.

Some of the other things you can keep in mind during the treatment of cold sores are:

• Drink a lot of fluids to avoid dehydration;
• Avoid salty or acidic foods to prevent irritations;
• Eat cooling foods to soothe the sore; dab creams instead of rubbing them in; and
• Use mouthwash when brushing teeth proves to be too painful.

By combining the 2 step cold sore treatment with various other remedies available you will get rid of those irritating and embarrassing blisters in no time at all.

How to Treat Cold Sores

How to Heal a Cold Sore – 6 Simple Steps