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These days, more and more people find themselves using cold sore home remedies to treat their oral herpes (herpes labialis) symptoms. Homemade cold sore remedies have been proven effective and risk-free and have been seen to work more than regular medications.

Cold sores can be extremely uncomfortable, painful and unsightly. You cannot do anything much to change how a cold sore looks, but there are home remedy treats that you can do to speed up healing, decrease the discomfort and keep it from recurring.

Sixteen Cold Sore Remedy Tips

1. Protect the affected area with a petroleum based product. Covering the cold sores with petroleum jelly can hasten the speed of healing of the cold sore and protect it from further infection (i.e. bacterial).

2. Don't try to cover the sore with make-up. Attempting to hide and camouflage the makeup can only aggravate this problem as chemicals in makeup tend to worsen the blisters. And remember never to share your lipstick or makeup with others.

3. Get a new toothbrush. There are no better times to change your toothbrush than after the blister has formed and after the sore has completely healed. Your toothbrush can harbor the virus in your lips and mouth.

4. Reach for some aspirin, paracetamol or ibuprofen. Cold sores can become painful and when the pain gets to you, don't hesitate to take some pain-relieving medications.

5. Avoid acidic and salty foods. Salty foods like chips and citrus fruits can lead to further irritation of cold sores and add more to the pain.

6. Apply some over-the-counter anaesthetic. You can dab a little local anaesthetic ointment (usually containing benzocaine) over the cold sore to temporarily numb the pain.

7. Consult your doctor. If you have recurrent or severe cold sores, it will be best to see your health care provider. It may be asymptomatic of worse conditions so it is better to consult the situation with him.

8. Protect your lips from the harmful sun. You should apply sunscreen to your lips to help prevent the sun to induce another cold sore recurrence. There are lip balms which have sunscreen, and get one that has an SPF of 15 or higher.

9. Keep the cold sores to yourself. Remember at all times that cold sores are contagious. Avoid any form of physical contact especially kissing, cuddling and sex, and sharing of glasses, towels and other such personal items. Wash your hands regularly, most especially after touching the cold sore. Never, ever touch your eyes or your genitals immediately after having touched a cold sore.

10. Don't put yourself in too much stress. Physical and emotional stress can easily trigger cold sores. Do stress-busting techniques such as meditation, exercise, reading or yoga.

11. Never touch it. No matter how tempting it can get, never touch, squeeze, pinch or pick on a cold sore as doing these can cause bacterial infection.

12. Use a hand sanitizer. Hand sanitizers will come in handy if you happen to scratch your cold sore accidentally and there is no wash basin nearby.

Natural Home Remedies from the Kitchen

13. Spread licorice with some vegetable shortening onto the sore. Licorice has been found to stop herpes simplex virus dead. Licorice can be seen as a main ingredient in candies. It can also be bought in your local supermarket as licorice powder.

14. Use ice packs. Upon first detecting a budding cold sore, apply cold compress directly to provide temporary relief.

15. Remedy using milk. No, you don't drink the milk, but instead, soak a cotton ball into the milk and dab gently on cold sores to relieve the pain.

16. Take zinc lozenges. Cold sores are usually triggered by stress so that during times of stress, you can suck on some zinc-based lozenges to boost your immune system.

Cold sores can be uncomfortable and embarrassing, but you can cope with them well by using some of these easy home remedies for cold sores.