Is It A Cold Sore Or A Canker Sore?

What’s the difference between a cold sore and a canker sore? While both sores are painful, only one is both contagious and attracts people’s attention.

With a canker sore inside your mouth most people aren’t going to see it. You’ll definitely feel it as the sore tends to be quite tender. Canker sores begin with a red bump with a kind of tingly feeling. As the canker sore progresses it opens up with a red edge and whitish center. According to WebMD these tiny yet painful sores heal by themselves in a little over a week.

Medical research has not found the cause of canker sores. Some question an auto immune disease while others think family history plays a part. Certainly canker sores appear when someone is stressed or tired.

Treatment of canker sores means avoiding foods irritating the sore. Spicy or hot foods can really increase the pain level. You may want to stick with bland or cold foods to ease the pain. Gels used for teething pain can often numb the area for short periods of time. Be sure follow directions on the gel package.

Cold sores are also very painful. But unlike cankers cold sores most often appear on the lips or around the mouth. But cold sores are contagious, very contagious.

Cold sores are caused by the Herpes Simplex virus, which comes in two types. Most people with cold sores have Herpes Simplex type 1. As I’ve mentioned before the initial or original Herpes infection most often happen when someone was a child.

The Herpes virus lays sleeping until it senses a weakness in the body’s defense system. This could be fatigue, stress or an infection elsewhere in the body. As the virus duplicates itself it causes painful lesions or fever blisters around the mouth and lips. Cold sore treatment choices are mostly limited to pain control.

Cold sores last about two weeks from the first red spot to the scab finally falling off. Some people have found local numbing gels, or prescribed anti virus medications help with the pain of the cold sores. Other people use more natural approaches to cold sore treatment.


Photo used courtesy of Cris Watk

Cold Sore Treatment - Understanding Cold Sores, Causes and Treatments

Easy Remedies For Cold Sores-When You Know What's Happening You Can Take Control of Your Treatment for Cold Sores

Cold sores are known by several names including fever blisters, cold sores and in the medical community they’re known as recurrent herpes labialis. Highly contagious and caused by the herpes simplex virus it's important to find a cold sore treatment to decrease outbreaks.

The recurrent herpes labialis sores generally appear where mucous membrane and skin meet-like at the corners of the mouth. However, cold sores can be found on the gums as well.

Symptoms
The first symptoms are a tingling sensation or pain at the location. The virus takes over several nerve cells in its effort to reproduce or replicate itself. As the virus reproduces it breaks down the cell leading to the eruption we see as a fever blister.

From start to completed healing the life cycle is about 14 days. There are two types of herpes simplex virus-Type 1 and Type 2. Type 1 causes cold sores, and Type 2 causes genital herpes. Of note, both can cause cold sores on the face or the genital area.

No Cure Only Cold Sore Treatments
With all the advances in healthcare, there still is not a cure for recurrent herpes labialis. The cold sore treatment either treats the symptoms or decreases or minimizes the number and severity of outbreaks.


What Causes Cold Sores?

Some people have repeated outbreaks while other individuals never do. This is surprising given 9 out of 10 people have been infected with the herpes simplex virus during their life.

Certain factors have been identified as triggers for recurrent herpes labialis outbreaks. These triggers include:

1. Stress

Stress whether physical or emotional has been identified as the leading cause of outbreaks.

2. Menstruation

Menstrual cycles and its hormonal changes predispose women to cold sores reoccurrence.


In part 2 I'll cover more ways so you can understand cold sores so you can decide what cold sore treatments can work for you.


Graphic courtesy of Yoshi Aka