home remedy for cold sores

Are there any home remedies for cold sores that really work?

Curing cold sores is difficult, if not nearly impossible, and no treatment works for everyone. For example, one person will have good results with a home remedy for cold sores, while another will not.

A home remedy for cold sores is to try to dry the cold sores. Another approach is to keep the sore moist and deprive it of oxygen. And still a third is to dry the sore and then keep it moist.

There are many home remedy methods for cold sores using normal household supplies that do not fall into the three categories above.

DRYING THE SORE

The method for drying up the sore is to apply some type of astringent to the site. There are many different products that accomplish this. Most of them contain alcohol or a solvent that dries out the skin.

Most of the time one would ice and/or open the blisters with a needle before using these products. Here’s a partial list of sore-drying products, starting with the most logical and moving on to the hard-to-believe ones:

isopropyl alcohol

Nail polish remover (acetone)

Hydrogen peroxide

gel alcohol

Mouthwash

After shave

Cologne

Clearasil

Bath soap

Toothpaste

Salt

Sulfur from unburned match heads

Deodorant

Vinegar

Bleach

jack daniels

KEEP THE SORE WET

If you want to try the cold sore home remedy option of depriving the cold sore of oxygen and keeping it moist, the following is a partial list of products that will do this:

Vaseline

neosporin

camphenic

aloe vera

mentholate

drink

lipstick

Destiny

orajel

lipstick

earwax

Your own oil for the skin

DRY IT AND THEN KEEP IT WET

The procedure for this is to dry the sore until it scabs over and then keep the scab moist so it doesn’t crack or bleed while it heals.

Drying the sore is probably a better home remedy for cold sores than keeping it moist.

Almost all over-the-counter preparations keep the area moist. Usually this is No effective in shortening the episode.

More than 61% of the people who reported said that commercial products were not effective or even made the outbreak worse.

OTHER ASSUMPTIONS USEFUL RESOURCES

The following is a partial list of home remedies for cold sores that don’t actually fall into any of the above categories. However, they are reported to be useful in the treatment of cold sores.

Minced garlic or garlic pieces

tea tree oil

green tea bag

frozen tea bag

Dry instant coffee made into a paste with a little water

pepto bismal

Whole milk

Eucalyptus oil

Preparation H

hydrocortisone

green papaya sap

Benadryl applied topically with lip balm

calamine lotion

Many home remedies for cold sores combine several of these products that can be complicated, slow and painful.

EXTREME EXAMPLE OF A HOME REMEDY FOR HERBRIUM

Here is an extreme example of a real home remedy for a person suffering from cold sores:

First, open the blisters with a needle.

· Then apply apple cider vinegar with salt. (Yes, it is painful.)

· After 20 minutes apply lemon with salt until the stinging ceases.

Then put toothpaste on it overnight.

· In the morning apply petroleum jelly, followed by more vinegar and salt.

After that, rub it with milk.

· Within 20 minutes use rubbing alcohol.

· After 30 minutes, cover it with nail polish remover.

Finally crush a clove of garlic and hold it to the sore. (Yes, it stings.)

By this time, the sore will be gone and you can cover the redness with lipstick.

Another example of a real world victim:

Apply bleach with a cotton ball. (Yes, it burns.)

· Then hold a moist green tea bag to the site.

Next, soak a Centrum multivitamin tablet, crush it into a paste and apply it for 20 minutes.

· So you end up with a scab, so put some cream on it.

Do home remedies for cold sores really work?

Most of these home remedies are reported to shorten the episode, however they focus on applying something to the sore after it has already started.

So the best you can hope for is to shorten your healing time and maybe relieve some of the pain. Keep in mind that some of them actually increase pain.

There are many other home remedies, but you can see how complicated the procedure for curing a cold sore can be. It takes a long time to treat a cold sore this way, and a person usually only shortens the episode by a few days. However, these treatments are more effective than over-the-counter products.

There are vitamins and supplements available that can reduce or even eliminate outbreaks, making a home remedy for cold sores unnecessary.

There are better ways to control cold sore outbreaks and you can even stop them before they start.