Remaining Cold Sore

I got a cold sore 3 weeks ago on the right side of my upper lip. Within 3 days it blistered, broke, and began to crust and heal. I used abreva throughout this process, for 10 days. After about a week the scabbing stage was over and the cold sore was healing inside my skin, leaving a red mark on my lip. This red mark hasn't disappeared yet, and today I noticed there are 3 tiny bumps which makes it look like it is still a faded blister (?) The area does not feel sensitive, even when I put alcohol on it. For the last 3 days I started using abreva again, and have been taking Lysine tablets, and put some vitamin E ointment on it as well.

In the past, my cold sores lasted about a week, but I hadn't had one in 6 years, so they do not typically pop up very often. This is also the first time my lip became swollen from a cold sore. This happened on the second day, and the swelling had gone down by the next day, when the cold sore began to heal. I'm concerned this might be some other type of infection?  Has it not healed entirely yet? could this be a scar? And is it still contagious? I did have oral sex a few days ago because I thought it had healed.

Thanks.




This discussion is related to Cold Sore Scar.

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,
From your symptoms it looks like recurrence of the cold sore.You can consult a dermatologist and get prescribed topical antiviral drugs to prevent any recurrence. People are most contagious when they have active blister-like sores. Once the blisters have dried and crusted over (within a few days), the risk of contagion is significantly lessened. However, a person infected with HSV can pass it on to another person even when a cold sore is not present.

It is very difficult to precisely confirm a diagnosis without examination and investigations and the answer is based on the medical information provided. For exact diagnosis, you are requested to consult your dermatologist. I sincerely hope that helps. Take care and please do keep me posted on how you are doing.