Cold Sore Symptoms 

• A tingling, burning or itchy feeling where the sore is going to appear. Ideally you should start treatment as soon as you get these feelings.

• A red swollen patch that, over the next 24 hours, turns into a blister or group of blisters. The blisters can be very painful and make it difficult to eat or talk. Treatment at this stage can recue the healing time for the cold sore.

• Without treatment, over the next few days the blisters can become painful sores that weep or crack.

• In a week or so the blisters dry up and form a yellow brown crust. The crust soon falls off and does not usually leave a scar.

• The cold sore should have healed completely and disappeared 10-14 days after it began. However, the virus can be spread from the time the first tingling or burning is felt, until the crust has dried.

Why do cold sores keep coming back?

• After the first attack, the virus gets into the nerves in that part of the body closest to where the cold sore appeared. Here the virus ‘sleeps’ until the next attack is triggered.

• A number of things can make the virus active again - stress or tiredness, menstruation or pregnancy, strong sunlight or sunburn. It may also become active when you are feeling run down or have another illness.

• If you get cold sores more often in the summer because of the sun, or in winter doing snow based activities use sunscreens to help prevent them.