I have suffered from cold sores most of my life. I use Carmex and I make sure not to contaminate the tube or Carmex container with the cold sore by using my fingers to apply it. Also - at the sirst sign of a cold sore coming on - the heat and tingling - I take two L-Lysine pills and the cold sore usually never gets beyond that point. Lysine is a amino acid that your body naturally produces and it works wonders. It's sold over the counter everywhere. Please try it - I think you'lll be pleasantly suprised.
Andrea B.
Graphic Designer
Kel:
Herpes can recur more than tice a year, but in my experience it's rare for an attack to last for "2 months." As for picking causing sores that look like herpes, I see this quite often. Perhaps your clinical experience differs from mine.
In my reply, I said that I thought the questioner's condition was probably not herpes, and I suggested alternate approaches. I concluded, however, that if the lip doesn't clear up, another dermatologist should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment.
I think this a measured and prudent reply, and I stand by it.
The folks at MedHelp have my credentials on file. I'm sure they will be happy to supply them, if you wish.
Best.
Dr. Rockoff
Clarification: no "real" doctor would ever suggest that merely rubbing your lip will give you a herpes like scab. No "real" dermatologist would ever suggest that it's not herpes if the infection doesn't go away in a week. The typical minimum is ten days, and many people take two weeks or longer to get rid of the infection.
Herpes can and does appear more than twice a year.
If you really are a doctor, you are in serious need of education.
Personally, I doubt that you are, and if you don't mind, why don't you post your credentials because I would like to do a little investigating...
Clarification: no "real" doctor would ever suggest that merely rubbing your lip will give you a herpes like scab. No "real" dermatologist would ever suggest that it's not herpes if the infection doesn't go away in a week. The typical minimum is ten days, and many people take two weeks or longer to get rid of the infection.
Herpes can and does appear more than twice a year.
If you really are a doctor (which I doubt), you are in serious need of education.
With due respect, Judy, I think you are using the term, "cold sore" in the loose and incorrect way many people do. True hepres infections recur a couple of times a year, last a week, and go away. You don't "catch them" from anything--they recur when the virus, which hides in nerves under the lip, come back to life for a while.
I suspect, though I can't prove, that when you feel the itch, your brain says, "Oh-oh--another infection!" after which you rub the area, see the scab, and the whole cycle starts again.
My suggestion? Get some OTC bacitracin ointment, to eliminate any chance of bacteria. Use that as a lip balm, as often as you like. Take care to NEVER rub or pick at your lips. The watch the "infections" mely away.
It's worth a shot. If it fails, see a derm doc.
Best.
Dr. Rockoff