Cold Sores

Courtesy of wulffmorgenthaler.com

There's no amount of makeup that will ever be able to hide a cold sore. A cold sore is this hideous looking blisters that come out around my lips, leak clear liquid then scab to heal. Its disgusting I know. If you like being disgusted click here for pictures (not of me).

Cold sores usually pop up when you least expect them. First you feel a little tingling, then a little burning, then a little itch. Then all of a sudden you wake up to Frankenstein Pimple smack dab in the middle of your lips. You can't hide it. No concealer on earth can hide it. (side note: don't try to hide pimples or anything crusty with concealer/foundation/blush/etc...it only attracts attention and doesn't let it heal)

yup that's me with my cold sore

Cold sores always come up when either I'm under stress, when its that time of the month, when my body temp drastically changes, or just when the universe feels like punishing me. I once had a weekend I had planned for months for a night out on the town with girlfriends and I wake up to a planet on my lips. Ah yes, nothing gets attention like a drippy crusty blister.

I've tried just about everything out there to make this thing go away or at least try to prevent it from fully growing.

I've tried Abreva.

Doesn't work. I felt nothing putting this on. I might as well have put on regular lip balm. It makes no change on the cold sore before, during or after. It's also super expensive and comes in this tiny little tube.


I've tried different home remedies like nail polish, rubbing alcohol, ice cubes, cold washcloth. People have different reactions to these. I've used what works for ME and it may not work for you. Try at your own risk.

When I feel the first pain tingle of the cold sore I apply Carmex
like a lip balm addict. (tangent: did you know there's actually a website devoted to lipbalm addicts?..click 2 see ....more on lip balms later) Carmex has this medicated smell to it.

As you can see by the picture I use it quite often. I also bought this tube one.



I keep the round tin at home and I keep the tube in my purse. This is a MUST for cold
sores. It's thick and has a tingly numbing
sensation to it. The round tin is heavy duty and has a thicker consistency to it. The tube is more like a light lip balm and has less of the medicine smell. Either way I have them both.

If I wake up and see the cold sore emerging its evil evil head I start to use
ice cubs to numb it out and use a q-tip to put hand sanitizer on it to dry it out. Weird, I know. It's kind of difficult and awkward to do this at work but you must not let this thing grow and you must not let this thing stay moist. DO NOT keep putting lip balm past this point.


Once its full blown you've lost the battle and you have to let this thing grow then scab to get rid of it. If its full blown it will usually last about 7 to 10 days. Then you have no choice but to make some excuse why you cannot leave your house and go to work.

Lets say this happens and you have Jupiter on your face. I alternate between ice cubes, then hand sanitizer. Then repeat over and over and over. I also found this A-M-A-Z-I-N-G little tube called Viractin. It does not in any way cure the cold sore but numbs it. It contains Tetracaine which is a numbing drug. I think it speeds up the process but that's just me. It also makes your lips feel like Angelina Jolie's. I said feel not look. Feel.

I haven't had a cold sore in about a year. *crosses fingers*

I give Carmex and Viractin 5/5
On the brighter side, even celebrities aren't safe from cold sores. Ouch! Thank goodness I don't have to walk a red carpet.