Early treatment can shorten healing time

The average suffer experiencing a healing time of 7-10 days from the first sign of cold sore symptoms appearing.

The first cold sore symptom to appear is often a tingling sensation in the area that the sore will appear. This is due to the virus becoming reactivated and moving towards the surface of the skin, and if treatment is started at this stage it can help shorten the time you have a cold sore.

Cold sore symptoms

For most people a tingling sensation is the first symptom of a new cold sore attack, signifying that the immune system can no longer overcome the virus. HSV-1, awoken from its dormant state in the nerve cells, moves to the surface of the skin, replicating as it does so. There it wreaks its damage by destroying skin cells, thereby causing small blisters that merge to create a larger one.

Once the blister bursts, weeping the contagious fluid, an open sore is left; this is both painful to experience and unpleasant to look at and is the biggest problem for many sufferers, who actively avoid social interaction while having an attack. However, after a few days, the sore heals and no scar is left. While it is an unpleasant condition it is not serious, but by starting treatment as soon as cold sore symptoms are noticed the overall healing time can be reduced.