Welcome to this week's video all about cold sores if you've got a cold sore on your lip
right now and you've found this video well my friends you've found the right video because
we're going to be going through cold sore treatments and how to get rid of a cold sore
so let's begin so welcome to my channel if you haven't been here before we talk
about everything medical and healthcare so i really hope you find this information helpful
there is going to be a chapter in the description below if you want to find any specific section
feel free to click on it and go to that specific section and find out the information however
i would always recommend you watch the entire video that way you're going to become a bit of a
cold sore treatment pro type person also please don't forget to click that like button if you
find any of this information helpful it's going to help me it's going to help video it's going to
help the video perform better and it's going to make the video available to more and more
people around the world to help them as well if they're suffering from a cold sore now let's begin
so let's begin with some basic science what is a cold sore cold sores the little red blisters
that you get usually around the lip area or around the nose area and it's believed that two-thirds of
people under the age of 50 are affected with cold sores and unfortunately if you do have cold sores
you most likely got them from someone else so cold sores are caused by a virus called herpes
simplex virus and like i said they're spread by other people passing it to each other also please
remember you can spread cold sores even without having an active cold sore as well so bear that in
mind as well they are very very contagious hence why two thirds of people under 50 have cold sores
and once you have the virus it then lies dormant within your nerve sheath it doesn't mean it's a
life sentence that you're gonna have cold sores all the time but they can lie dormant there and
eventually they get activated for whatever reason whatever factor that's stressing you
out for example and then you get cold sore gets activated and then you get the little red blister
that we all know so very well so the first thing i want to talk to you all about is the factors
that actually cause the cold sores look because we know that once you have a cold sore it's going
to reoccur because we now know the science behind it so if you can do certain things that are going
to reduce your chances of having a flare up well it makes sense to know them and do them first so
for example stress can make cold sores worse so you need to work out ways to reduce your stress
levels now i do have loads of videos on reducing stress levels and techniques that can actually
help reduce your stress levels so if you want to find more information i'll leave a link up here
and in the description below other things that can cause it for example are direct sunlight look
if you're going on holiday if it's getting sunny all of a sudden in the uk which is it's quite rare
but even still you should be using an spf so we're talking stf15 if you get on your lips all the time
using an spf lip balm can be really helpful as well just to protect the skin and avoid causing
those triggers to cause an outburst now cold sores usually last for about 10 days but there
are things that you can do to help treat a cold source so we're now going to work through them
we're going to work through each step one by one and let's hope that they help you so moving on to
tip number one remember cold soils are caused by the herpes simplex virus so we need an antiviral
a cyclovir is a common antiviral cream that we use for cold sores it can be quite effective at
reducing the number of days of the duration of the actual cold sore especially if you get it if you
hit it straight away as soon as you feel those symptoms look if you've had cold sores before
you're gonna know what symptoms you experience before you get your outbreak it starts to feel
tingly it might start to feel numb around the area and as soon as you start to feel those symptoms
that is the point where you need to hit it you need to be aggressive with therapy that's what we
call it you need to be aggressive with it and put the a cycle of beer on that inside the beer you
can buy it from any chemist it's available i'm not sure if you can buy it from all supermarkets but
you can definitely buy it from all the chemists and you apply it five times a day okay when you're
applying it you just need to dab it on the area you don't need to dab it elsewhere just dab it
on the area well first of all make sure you wash your hands especially with covered and everything
going about at the moment you need to make sure you first wash your hands before you're touching
anything on your lips because if you touch on your lips most likely eventually you're going to go in
your mouth as well so wash your hands dab it on the area and then wash your hands again also the
other reason why you need to wash your hands after is because you've just touched an area
which has an active cold sore so there's active herpes simplex virus there so if you touched it
and then i don't know you you shake someone's hand then they're going to be at risk of getting
herpes simplex especially if you don't have it already so please bear that in mind as well
so acyclovir cream is our first option which is actually very very effective but remember you need
to be aggressive so to summarize you need to be aggressive so as soon as you feel those symptoms
have it ready so don't wait until you get the symptoms and then go to the chemist tomorrow to
buy it have that cream ready if you're someone who suffers from cold sores it's important you just
got that ready so you can just go for it straight away so as i said you need to dabble near cycle of
beer five times a day it's usually recommended to use it for about four days however if it's
still persist in the cold sore you can use it for up to 10 days there's no harm in doing that so
feel free to use it for up to 10 days if you want but bear in mind if your blisters still active
after 10 days and it's not getting any better please please please do speak to your healthcare
professional about it because it's very important because there could actually be another infection
going on as well so if it's not recovering after 10 days then definitely speak to your healthcare
professional about it now one thing that cold sores are notoriously well known for when i speak
to my patients about them is the pain they can be very very painful that inflammation in the area
can really really be painful especially because we have so many nerves around
the area such as the mouth for example when there is an inflammation that's why there's so much pain
there because our mouth has a lot of sensitivity around it compared to other parts of our body
so when you get inflammation there compared to let's say my arm over here it's not going to be
as painful if i get a bit of swelling here but around there it's really going to hurt so if you
do get the pain that cortisol is notoriously well known for you can take paracetamol ibuprofen for
it completely fine to take for it however please do remember always check with your healthcare
professional if you are safe and suitable to use these medicines because that is the most important
thing and always read the information further that comes with it again just to check that
you're safe and suitable to use that medication because i'm going to say again your health is
the most important thing now in terms of other treatments you can also get cold sore patches
that you apply to the area that help protect the skin around it there's also some electronic
devices that apparently help with cold sores but please do remember there isn't really any evidence
supporting any of these um the patches especially the electric electronic devices for these i don't
really think there's any evidence well we've looked for evidence we couldn't find anything that
actually helps support them so don't go wasting money on that just stick with a cyclio cream
we've been using that for years it works well for patients but you just need to be
aggressive and hit it straight away i know i keep saying it but i need to over emphasize
that point because it's really important that you do it properly if you hit it soon and quickly
before it gets large you're gonna be very very likely to stop it from spreading and getting much
bigger and like what it usually does when you have an outbreak okay so now we spoke about cold sore
treatments the next thing i want to talk to you about is self-care lifestyle advice things that
are going to help as well the first things you're going to need to go to a chemist to get you know
the medication but these things everyone can do at home they're inexpensive and easy peasy to do
so the number one most important self-care tip for cold sores is do not touch the cold sore unless
you're applying your product on the acid beer do not touch it you're just gonna aggravate it okay
this is a very sensitive blister and if you keep touching it and playing with it you're just gonna
aggregate things and then you could potentially cause the rupture as well by breaking the skin
and you could potentially cause scarring and all the other stuff and also remember like i said
if you're going to touch it your fingers then got what on it yes the herpes simplifies virus so that
means you're going to be spreading it everywhere to other people who i'm pretty sure they don't
want a cold sore okay so please remember that do not touch it unless you're applying the
actual acyclovir do not touch the area now there are also a few things you definitely need to avoid
when you have a cold sore for example kissing is a no because you're gonna spread that herpes simplex
also oral sex is a no again because you're gonna spread the virus and also sharing things that
touch your face so for example towels never share a towel when you have an active cold sore in fact
never share a tower generally you know everyone should have their own towel this is one of the
most important things just to reduce the spread of different diseases and bacteria
and viruses and everything everyone should have their own towels so please have your own help
also don't share stuff that touches your lips so for example cutlery maybe lipstick anything
like that that's going to touch your face or lips please don't share it just keep it to yourself now
cold sores are also very contagious to newborn babies so please remember that as well that if
i don't know you're seeing your nephew for the first time please avoid kissing them because again
it's just going to spread that cold sore on that herpes simplex virus to the baby and i'm sure they
don't want that either so please remember that because a lot of people never think about babies
and babies are really important because they are very very high risk of catching the herpes and
blessed virus so remember if you do have cold sores especially an active one and you've seen
the baby for the first time don't kiss it just be nice to it okay so that's lifestyle advice
done there are a few times where you should seek medical attention for a cold sore box is going to
pop up here with different bits of information on when you should seek medical attention for a
cold sore feel free to pause the video right now give it a read if it applies to you then please
please please seek medical attention for the cold tool okay so it looks like we've come to the end
of this video all about cold sores all about cold sores on the lips and how to treat a cold sore so
i really hope that you found this information helpful remember the moral of the story is a
psychological aggressive straight away as soon as you get symptoms i'm trying to do it in
single words but it didn't really work i really hope that you find this information helpful please
do let us know any of your own tips as well leave a comment in the description below i'd love to
read it and i'm sure everyone else watching this video would love to as well as i always say at the
end of each video well before i say this please don't forget to like the video as well if you
found any of this information helpful don't forget to give it a like i will really appreciate it or
help me it'll help the video it'll help the video become you know more apparent to other people so
they can watch it and learn this information as well so please don't forget to click that like
and now that's what i'm saying as i always say at the end of every single video always remember that
you're awesome and i will see you next week dormant in your nerve sheaths and
says so tip number one so so so okay hey guys thanks for watching this week's video make sure
to click that like follow or subscribe button now to stay up to date with new weekly videos