The comments below reflect the personal experiences and opinions of readers and do not represent medical advice or the views of this website. The information shared has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent any disease or health condition. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional for medical concerns.
Acetone
Posted by Firm Believer (Nyc) on 12/21/2017
★★★★★
Absolutely, positively and without fail works 100% of the time
I'm 42 and I've gotten cold sores my whole life. Like all of you, I too have tried everything I could get my hands on including Dr. prescribed meds. Nothing. Ice seems to chill them out for a bit - but they always came back with a vengeance. I found that acetone works 100% of the time. 100%. I honestly don't care what any naysayer says. It's really that good. If you catch it at the tingle stage, then it stops there. If you catch it at the blister stage, the blisters immediately go down and your at the scab stage. Even that goes quicker. This is the closest thing to a medical miracle that I've experienced. The folks who suffer from this virus would understand that statement. I keep a little bottle of acetone in my home, my car, at work and in my luggage.
Acetone
Posted by Jordan D (Georgetown, Tx) on 12/13/2017
★★★★★
Read about this little home remedy yesterday after noticing a cluster of cold sores pop up on my lip when I woke up yesterday morning. Some of the reviews were good and some bad. I decided in a panic and with my wedding only 2 days away that it was worth a shot to try. Not big on the home remedies, but I have been getting cold sores since I was 5 years old (now 26), I have used any and all cold sore medicines, creams, tablets, you name it! None of which have been even close to successful! Last night before bed I held a cotton ball with fingernail polish remover over the nasty cluster of sores on my lip for about 6 minutes. The original post had advised leaving the cotton ball with the polish remover on the affected area for 30 minutes... YES 30 MINUTES. (Not sure how I feel about that one.) I noticed after the 6 minutes that the color of my lip was getting darker and out of fear for it bruising I went ahead and removed it. Immediately I noticed a difference in the affected area. It looked so much better! After wards I cleaned the affected area with hydrogen peroxide on another cotton ball and went to bed. I woke up this morning and to my surprise the clusters were no longer filled with that nasty liquid, they already had a nice scab on them ( the scab was almost the same color as my lips, as it did not look dark or irritated) By lunch time today everything is back to its original color, the scabs are almost completely gone, and the cluster is no longer noticeable unless I stand very close to the mirror. I am definitely forever in favor of this little remedy! Pretty surprised that such a simple solution works after spending TONS of money on medicines for it for 21 years! OH also...after using the nail polish remover BUT before using the hydrogen peroxide I gently cleaned the affected area with my fingers using luke warm tap water and antibacterial hand soap.
Good luck!!!
Acetone
Posted by Bronka (Vancouver) on 12/09/2017
Thank you so much for pointing out the chocolate - cold sore connection!!!
I do not like sweets very much, but yesterday I got these delicious chocolates, I tried one and then I just could not stop eating them last night!
This morning I woke up with a cold sore. This will teach me a lesson.
I tried the acetone before and it definitely helped me . So I am going to do it again now.
Olive Leaf Extract
Posted by Jake (Madison Wi ) on 11/22/2017
★★★★★
I started getting cold sores about once a month sometimes twice and eventually read about olive leaf extract. I started taking them. 4 per day, 2 in the morning and at night. It seems like it took forever, but months later they stopped and so far I haven't had a single one in nearly 2 years. I have not been checked to see if the virus is gone or not, but I'm not complaining. I also combined with lysine pills. Eventually I reduced my dosage to 2 per day and then eventually just one pill a day of the olive leaf extract. I'm extremely grateful to God and for the information I came across that lead me to it. I had to stick with it and it did take months to work, but totally worth it.
Ear Wax
Posted by J (Tn) on 08/21/2017
★★★★★
Yes, My grandmother told me the old wives tale about ear wax and cold sores. At first I was like most horrified and grossed out, I bought the expensive squeeze tunes of "cold sore medication", tried about 2 or 3 different forms of it...nothing. I tried popping them and alcohol to dry them up....nothing but more days in pain, I even went to the doctor and was given a script when I had one inside my lip in fear that they would reach my throat. They cleared up, eventually.
But when I felt that well known oh no tickle the next time and thought I have nothing else to lose so I go into the bathroom and qtip to ear and took a deep breath and 1,2, wait what am I doing?? Screw it...3!! And on like I would lipstick or gloss but just to the spot.
You know what....no break out! Are you kidding me?! All of this time, pain and wasted money. Should I been doing this for years! And I have been ever since.
Let me say this, it only takes one time to forget that you have it on and you rub your lips together or stick out your tongue. Lol. Heaven forbid if you lick it! Lol, but you will only do it once.
Olive Leaf Extract
Posted by Alex (Thessaloniki, Greece) on 08/10/2017
★★★★★
I took olive leafs and it worked greatly! Here in Greece we have many olive tree so I just cut a small branch and put it in water with sugar in order to preserve.
I didn't take olive leafs when I felt the nerve in the lip irritated but I was late and took it when the blisters started to appear. I chewed two leafs and put it over the blisters for an hour, securing it with a trauma tape, tree times per day.
After just 24 hours the crust formatted in almost all the area and fluid it produced was minimised in relation to other times. Also the tingling or itching period lasted only the time I didn't put olive leafs and one day more. I have even eaten some leafs.
I continue putting olive leafs three times per day until it is almost gone. The bitter taste in olive leafs is due to Oleuropein killing the Herpes virus.
Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Anonymous (US) on 07/30/2017
★☆☆☆☆
Ok so I soaked Apple Cider Vinegar on a cotten ball and held the cotten ball on my cold sore for maybe more than ten minutes. Once I took it off I realized my lip swelled.. A lot. IF I were to do this again I would only dab on the Apple Cider Vinegar directly on the cold sore. Now I'm sitting in my room with an ice cube to my lip.
Lemon Balm
Posted by Cris01us (Honolulu) on 07/07/2017
★★★★★
So I have tried many many things for the past three years to deal with embarrassing cold sores and surprisingly most are listed on this site and most do in fact work to some degree or another.
For instance, on a 1-10 scale with 10 being awesome: 1. ACV applied (3) 2. Acetone applied (6) 3. Ice applied (4) 4. L-Lysine taken (5) 5. Earwax applied (7) (hey when your desperate you'll try anything! ) 6. Zinc taken (3) 7. Lemon Balm (9)!!! 8. Organic Oregano Oil applied (7) (if the right strength is applied enough) 9. Tea Tree Oil applied (5) 10. Tea bag applied (2)
If you are reading this and looking for some relief then you have probably read a ton of others too, and what you should have noticed by now is that no one thing by itself is probably going to be a silver bullet. What I have found that works for me is: Lemon Balm oil (1oz bottle with dropper) apply to q-tip and hold that on the spot for 1-5 minutes at a time, do as often as needed through out the day. If done at the very first sign this is amazing with helping slow everything down. Then up the L-lysine to 3000mg (1000 each dose). Drink plenty of water - the body needs it! Eat healthy (I even fasted for a day once and it helped).
Take a zinc supplement and make sure your getting all the vitamins and minerals your body needs and plenty of rest. I also have tried BHT and I think it helps....but that's not natural and is very controversial in this kind of community.
Mistakes: too strong of OOO - I burned my lip and it took as long to heal as it would have the cold sore (but it worked the sores were gone the next day)! . Topical Zinc Sulfate - also burns. TTO applied too often - burns and stops working after a while. Really in most mistakes it comes down to overdoing it. I know we all want it gone yesterday but NOTHING is going to do that so have a little patience. Best of luck!
Hydrogen Peroxide
Posted by Cris01us (Honolulu) on 07/07/2017
I would let the skin rest and probably not do it more than a few times a day, especially each application is for an extended time.
Lemon Balm
Posted by Cris01us (Honolulu) on 07/07/2017
★★★★★
You are spot on. Lemon Balm is my main weapon now (liquid form with dropper). I also take coconut oil (1000-5000mg) depending on how I feel, and having enough Zinc is also key. I rotate in Echinacea with Goldenseal every so often and always take L-Lysine. Thanks for sharing!
Hydrogen Peroxide
Posted by Paige (Texas) on 05/11/2017
★★★★★
Hydrogen peroxide for cold sores: just keep applying 😀
Ice
Posted by Carmen (Eureka, Ca) on 04/04/2017
★★★★★
Ice on a cold sore--absolutely works. Hold it on until it aches. It will diminish the sore, or make it go away altogether. If the cold sore flares up again, ice it again.
Lemongrass
Posted by Medina (England) on 03/07/2017
★★★★★
I suffered from cold sores all my life. The slightest stress or too much sun & my lips would be covered with the painful blisters. I spent a small fortune on aciclovir & medicated cold sore plasters to manage the outbreaks & noticed my lips had developed mild scarring.
I suddenly stopped getting them, after I started using a new organic lipbalm. Very rarely I might get one above or below my lipline, but never on the lips. The ingredients of the lipbalm are: organic beeswax, organic jojoba oil, lanolin, organic mungongo oil, organic lemongrass oil, organic peppermint oil, organic rosemary oil & vitamin E.
I googled the ingredients to try to identify which was the key anti-cold sore factor and found a 2003 Japanese study on the inhibitory effects of lemongrass oil on the herpes virus, effective even at very low concentrations. Eureka!
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14584615
I'm going to attempt to make my own version of lemongrass oil lipbalm as it's such a relief not to have to deal with cold sore outbreaks anymore. Hope this helps someone else too.
Zinc
Posted by Dave Of Canada (Victoria, Bc) on 02/24/2017 15 posts
Well, it's been like a month since my last post. I have to say the zinc I take has kept working all this time. The information I read suggests that people who are addicted to chocolate are often the people with exhaustion, viral problems, anxiety, racing mind, etc. and I found today that exhaustion is reducing in me! I thought the 50mg of zinc citrate I take a day was only helping a lot with cold sores, but today I did some spring cleaning, and found that I could keep cleaning rather than taking a break every 15 minutes. I haven't noticed
any increase in energy over the past month and a half, but I seem to have energy after exertion, so I guess that's an improvement in stamina.
I also found that days when I did have chocolate gave me some small amount of that unwelcome itching and redness the next day, as I had read, but I love chocolate so! I found I have much less of a reaction with powdered chocolate than with milk chocolate.
(I was so happy that I celebrated with getting some chocolate! )
I am so glad that read of this connection with zinc/copper, that I think I might try exercising and seeing if I can raise my overall energy level.
Acetone
Posted by Kcarey (Dublin, Ireland) on 02/09/2017
★★★★★
Nail varnish remover (acetone) on cotton wool held on cold sore for 10 mins a few times a day.
I cannot overemphasize how much this works; I currently have a very big very sore collection of cold sores & I tried nail varnish remover (as I read it somewhere else) & I could not believe how much it helped within an hour! It sounds drastic & it does sting a lot but the pain is over quickly & cold sore is drastically improved after 1 go!
I've tried everything in the past; taking lysine (cold sores still appeared), zovirax on first tingle (actually think moistening it made it come out not disappear), dabbing with alcohol (helps a v small bit), doing a lot of different stress management techniques to avoid triggers (sleep, exercise, eating well) all to no avail; the nail varnish remover is the only thing where I've actually seen a difference.
One thing I will say about prevention that works is not to let your lips get chapped; most of the times I get a cold sore its after my lips are v dry and chapped; they crack & then out pops a cold score.
I hope it helps someone else.
Zinc
Posted by Canadiandave (Bc) on 01/28/2017 15 posts
★★★★☆
I developed an unusual itchy red rash all over my mouth after visiting a certain restaurant, but I could have had a problem for a while. I developed a sore on the corner of each mouth only once in the 2 years since, but get the itching and redness almost every day. I used LED lights to be environmental, but had to switch back, because it made the problem much worse. So as you can see, I did not have an advanced or long term problem, but it was reduced greatly with zinc.
I read that many people with fatigue have a copper/zinc imbalance, and I thought I'd give it a try. It's only been 10 days, and no results yet on the fatigue, but the itching is virtually gone already!
This research also says that people with too high copper/too low zinc have viral problems, as zinc kills viruses in the body, with copper being better against bacteria.
I hope that's true. Not very exciting, but cleaning up my smile is a relief!
Acetone
Posted by Andie (Oregon) on 01/18/2017
Tried it. didn't work!!! Very disappointed... Made it spread. So mad!
Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Anonymous (Canada) on 12/20/2016
This is probably what I should have done. Instead I held the cotton ball on my lip for 5 minutes or more. My lip swelled and it's still swollen a day later. I'll try this again in the future if I get another sore, but definitely will use it carefully. I used organic apple cider vinegar.
BHT
Posted by Art. (Bc Canada) on 09/08/2016
BHT if taken with other supplements will not work, as these other supplements interfere with the metabolism of BHT. Sounds like your problem.
If you feel a break out happening take the BHT again for a while. Oscar takes it every day and says it will intensify the effects of alcohol.
Art.
BHT
Posted by Zark (Emerald City) on 08/20/2016
BHT is a good choice - it kills lipid enveloped viruses, and that includes the herpes virus which causes cold sores.
Calamine Lotion
Posted by Molly (Tampa, Fl) on 08/05/2016
★★★★★
I've suffered with cold sore outbreaks all my life, and most of the treatments only make my sores worse. I think it's because gels and liquids irritate the sore rather than soothe it. Even a breeze blowing on it seems to make it worse. I had the idea once to coat my sore with calamine lotion to protect it from irritation and I was amazed at how it made my sore so much better. I have been using calamine lotion now for several years, and I have never had a full blown break out since. Now when I feel the tingling of a cold sore, I apply calamine lotion as soon as I can and it dries it up right away before it can develop into a huge sore. I have found the more pasty the lotion, the better it works. So I take a bit from the top of the bottle around the cap that is dried out some and dab it over the cold sore. It really is like a miracle cure for me. However, my sores tend to come up on the skin beside my lips rather than on the lips themselves, so I'm not sure how well the calamine would stick to your lips since they move around when you talk and eat. It is definitely worth a try though!
Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Maayshia D (Alabama) on 07/20/2016
Hi, umm I have a cold sore right now and so I am using Apple Cider Vinegar on my lip and it has turned white now, does this mean that its working?
Apple Cider Vinegar, Clay
Posted by Sheel (New York, Ny) on 07/08/2016
★★★★★
I just experience an amazing recovery from a recurring cold sore. In the past I have used garlic and tried acetone topically, but I noticed that moisture always exacerbated the sore for example taking a shower would be terrible. This time I figured I would dry the heck out of it so I tried using a clay mask mixed with an equal amount of ACV on my developing cold sore. I did it two times a day for two days now and slept with it on my lip overnight and the cold sore completely skipped it's "exploding with pus" stage, dried up and is healing. I hope you try this, it really worked amazingly well for me.
Hydrogen Peroxide
Posted by Sisi1109 (Montreal ) on 07/03/2016
★☆☆☆☆
I'm a bit disappointed... I have herpes on my mouth for 7 years now. Found out about hydrogen peroxide and I did it I read the book and did everything 3 drops in a 8 oz glass of distilled water 3x a day until I reach 25 drops stayed a 25 drops for 4 days and went down to 3 then stopped and I went to do a blood test to see if I still have it in my system ( I haven't got the answer yet ) but on Saturday I felt a bump on my lip and guess what it was my herpes again.... its less intense then before.. but still frustrating that I still have it :( :(
Ear Wax
Posted by Angela (Wyoming) on 06/23/2016
★★★★★
Alright you all need to try ear wax for a cold sore. I had a huge one on my bottom lip. I tried 1/2 bottle lysine, acetone, salt, honey, abreva, toothpaste and many many more and nothing! I then decided to try earwax. I kid you not it immediately felt better. No stinging or burning like most products did. The swelling went down in a hour and no redness. By hour 3 virus gone! It you are at your wits end please try this or do when it first tingles. Wash hands really really good. Don't use same finger that touched sore in ear please!! Do this upon the first tingle and keep doing it until no tingle. It really is a true miracle!!! Thank you God for having a free remedy to get rid of these nasty things from the devil.
