You should be lucky if you are one of those who are being the owner of the virus producing cold sores. Why lucky? You will probably be surprised to know that 80% of the adult population has this virus quietly living inside and reminding of himself time to time decorating your face with cold sores or fever blisters. (It was probably that hard to believe that your-incredible-self is 80%-water substance).
Yeah, that many people may experience unpleasant effect of the oral-facial herpes simplex. The reasons of it vary - from stress or fever to exposure to the sunlight. Unfortunately, the virus is not cured, but you can definitely stop it from leaving marks on your face. The key is an early treatment. As soon as the symptoms of herpes infection (for example, pain, tingling, redness, itching, burning, or blisters) begin to appear, its better to start applying topical medicine. As for today, the first FDA approved over-the-counter product for the treatment of this condition is Abreva cream.
This docosanol-based remedy belongs to the family of the antiviral medicines, those which treat infections caused by the viruses. Cold sores appear when the virus gets to the skin, and using Abreva will prevent this from its unwanted travels. Topical docosanol is applied to the sores to heal faster, although you started the treatment as soon as felt the first symptoms pain or itching around the mouth it will save your time and will keep the face undamaged.
The remedy is usually applied directly to the cold sore, being carefully and completely rubbed in with clean hands (its not necessary to remind you, right?). As a rule doctors suggest applying it 5 times a day directly to the cold sore until it goes off; children doses should be individually consulted. No one has ever studied the effect of Abreva on a pregnant or breast-feeding woman (hey, a chance for you to get famous), though numerous testing involving rabbits and rats (never seen pregnant rats!) didnt show any birth defects or other abnormalities.
As for the potential side effects they may reveal as the result of body adjustment to the medicine and as a rule dont need medical attention. The most common one is a headache, though sometimes dryness, redness, swelling, itching, rash or burning may occur. Avoid using Abreva if are an allergetic to docosanol or other substances (preservatives or dyes) - check with your doctor anyway.
In case the infection gets worse or does not heal in 10 days - give it up and talk to your health care provider about the further treatment of your herpes virus.
And one more thing - never use it to treat genital herpes, Abreva is only for an oral-facial one!
Let it never get to the surface, anyway!
Diana L.
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