If you are looking for a cold sore cure or you suffer from lip sores, then this article is for you. We will give you some helpful tips on how to cure a cold sore outbreak. These annoying outbreaks are not only painful but can take weeks to clear up. Cold sore outbreaks are triggered by any number of things, which can include: hormones, stress, greasy foods, over exposure to the sun, over exposure to wind and cold, and illness. This article will outline some simple methods for clearing up outbreaks as well as how to reduce auto-inoculation (spreading the disease elsewhere).

The first thing you will need to do is to not touch a cold sore--if you absolutely must touch the affected area then you must thoroughly wash your hands with soap and hot water. You cannot infect other areas if you do not touch it, so resist that urge. Keeping the infection contained to one area and stopping it from spreading to others is the first crucial step to cold sore prevention.

Be sure to wash your hands and face with a soap that has antibacterial properties to prevent secondary infections.

After the area has been thoroughly cleaned and dried you can apply an ointment that contains L-lysine. You can use a cotton swab to apply the ointment and start on the outer edges of the infection and work inward to prevent spreading the virus to other areas.

If you want to cure and prevent cold sore outbreaks, then you really need to know what causes them to occur. It could be anything ranging from hormone to extreme weather conditions. If you know what triggers a cold sore outbreak for you, it will be that much easier to understand how you can prevent them from occurring.

Ingesting a L-lysine supplement every few hours can also help. It will shorten the duration of the outbreak considerably and enable it to heal faster.

In a nutshell, these are the basic methods for curing a cold sore. If you follow these helpful tips then you can cure a cold sore outbreak, not in a matter of weeks, but in a few days.

You can also purchase one of the cold sore medications that are available over the counter. Consumer Search and Consumer Reports have extensively reviewed and recommend supplements and medications that contain L-lysine for cold sore treatment. Finding opinions that are honest as well as unbiased are invaluable when it comes to curing a cold sore.

For those who already have to deal with cold sores, you merely have to follow these easy steps to drastically reduce the number of outbreaks and lesson the severity of an outbreak:

Lysine supplements can be extremely helpful you should take a dose of 1000 milligrams at each meal (three times a day). This supplement is extremely safe and is an essential amino acid that you can find in foods like: dairy products, eggs, fish and red meat. To prevent cold sores, however, you must abstain from foods that are rich in arginine--chocolate, peanuts and almonds for example--as they will promote cold sores and negate any good lysine would do.

You can find lysine ointments to apply to the affected area as well. Research has shown that subjects who used lysine ointment as well as tablets saw vast improvement with infections clearing in 3 to 6 days. The ointment is also beneficial because it alleviates the pain and itching the blisters cause.

Another helpful tip is to take Vitamin B, C and E supplements as soon as possible when you sense an outbreak about to start. B vitamins keep the nervous system healthy and will help fight off the virus as well as help you manage stress better (which can also trigger an infection).

Vitamin C has been show to reduce the number of blisters as well as lessen the duration of the outbreak itself. You can either take a vitamin C supplement or just eat foods that are rich in the vitamin.

Vitamin E is critical because it will not only help lessen the pain an open blister can cause but will also help the healing process. Take a Vitamin E capsule and cut it open--use a cotton swab to apply the vitamin oil onto the blister and let it sit for thirty minutes.

There are quite a few plants that have been shown to be very effective for cold sores. Lemon balm, for instance, has antiviral properties that are useful and you can either use an ointment that contains it (to be applied directly to the sore) or drink an infusion or tea that contains the herb. Lemon balm ointments can be applied to blisters throughout the day. If you drink lemon balm tea you can also use the tea leaves as a poultice that can be applied to blisters for one to two hours.

Tea tree oil is another good herbal remedy that is an antiviral and will also help alleviate the itching that blisters can cause. To apply the tea tree oil, all you need to do is drip a few drops on a cotton swab or ball and apply directly to the affected areas as soon as you feel the initial tingling and on the blisters themselves when they develop.

Aloe Vera juice is also extremely effective and can be consumed as a drink or rubbed directly onto the sores. Aloe can be extremely useful when blisters are just starting to develop because it can help prevent them from getting larger.

There are also a whole host of antiviral medications that you can purchase at the drugstore (that are over the counter). Antiviral medications tend to cost quite a bit and the herbal remedies work just as well as they do. But, if you want to take all possible precautions and measure then the over the counter medications work well too.