Treating a cold sore is really a pain. They are unsightly and usually quite painful. Cold sores really interrupt our social lives. And they seem to show up at the most inconvenient times for treating a cold sore.

Unlike many diseases that do their damage internally Authentic Shayne Gostisbehere Jersey , cold sores only occur on the surface. Because of this, they can be easily cured. If this same damage occurred internally, cold sores could be a threat to your life.

Treating a cold sore successfully means you must adjust the treatment based on the stage of your cold sore symptoms.

These are the variations of treatment methods for each symptom.

1. Itching or tingling is the first sign of a outbreak. This tells you that the herpes simplex virus has come out of latency and has moved to the surface to replicate. It replicates by entering the cells and forcing them to create clones of the virus.

At this stage you should put something cold on the area. Ice cubes in a plastic bag work well. You can also use a cold can of soda. Cold really discourages the virus and can cause it to give up before it actually creates the sore.

2. Once the virus actually enters the cells, swelling begins to occur. Cold application is still the best treatment at this stage. Apply for 15 minutes at a time. This always helps swelling Authentic Claude Giroux Jersey , and does give some comfort.

3. If you did not stop the virus before this point, the sore will now break open and start weeping fluid teaming with new virus. This is caused by the destruction of thousands of nerve cells. From now on, your outbreak is in the healing phase.

Ice will still provide great comfort, and reduce swelling. But Authentic Nolan Patrick Jersey , unfortunately, it slows down the healing process by driving blood away from the area.

During the open wound stage, treating a cold sore includes keeping it as sterile as possible by cleaning with alcohol or hydrogen peroxide often.

Applying a drug store product with a numbing agent, like Campho-Phenique Authentic Wayne Simmonds Jersey , can greatly improve comfort without using ice.

4. Treating a cold sore, from this point on, calls for applying warmth as much as possible. This will speed healing by bringing more blood to the area.

Continue to keep the area sterile. Also, continue applying the comfort treatment (numbing agent) of your choice. Keep in mind that most all drug store oral herpes treatments are for comfort and do not speed healing.

HOW TO APPLY HEAT. To apply healing warmth Cheap Jakub Voracek Jersey , you can use a washcloth or paper towel dipped in hot water. You also can dampen the washcloth and warm up in your microwave. Just be careful not to burn your skin.

A better method, in my opinion, is to use a warm tea bag. This way of treating a cold sore not only speeds healing from the heat, but also bathes the area with anti-viral compounds found in tea. Lemon balm herb and mint seem to be especially useful in this regard.