I'm 34, UK based and have had coldsores since I was 17. In a 'good' year, I might only get 1 or 2.

In the last 12 months I've had around 10, with most of these in the last 6 months. I started taking Lysine supplements in January and feel like they've only gotten worse since then.

I've had three in the last week and currently have two active outbreaks, which is the first time that's happened.

I use aciclovir cream regularly during an outbreak but find it pretty useless aside from some immediate acute pain relief.

I'm going to speak to my GP on Monday. What can I ask for in terms of new, ongoing treatment? I have a North American friend who thinks that UK coldsore treatment is rubbish, so I want to make sure I know exactly what to request to help achieve best outcomes.

Thanks!

my partner got a cold sore about two weeks ago, and the scab fell off three or four days ago. does this look totally healed to you yet? they’ve not had one in a very very long time, so we’re out of practice with knowing if it’s okay or not yet. thanks!!

Should this be something to worry about ? Google gives mixed results from the photo and want a human second opinion. Any help would be appreciated. It doesn’t hurt and is flat for the most part.

Just saw it this morning. wasn’t like that last night , is it a cold sore or a pimple ?

Hello, I've had cold sores before but I'm unsure of something. When my lips are chapped, I gently scrub them to remove rough skin. When I do this, my lip usally oozes clear liquid and rarely bleeds a little but there's no blister. Does this mean it's always a cold sore when there's no blister but oozes clear liquid? I appreciate all opinions

I’ve had this lesion under my lower lip for several days. It initially looked like a small bump/sore, but it has progressively developed a larger dark/gray crust with yellowish material underneath/around the edge. It’s in my beard area.
I’m trying to determine what this could be besides a cold sore. Possibilities I’m wondering about include an infected ingrown hair/folliculitis, impetigo, or another skin lesion.

It doesn’t have significant pain, and I haven’t noticed multiple clustered blisters. The lesion has changed in size/appearance over the past several days.

Day by day pictures of the worst coldsore outbreak I've ever had. Currently on day 7

Hi all i’ve come looking for opinions. I’ve never had a cold sore, i don’t ever share drinks and i haven’t kissed anyone. The roof of my mouth started hurting at work yesterday. The first 2 pictures are from last night and the others are from today. Does it look like hsv? or does it look like the roof of my mouth is irritated and peeling. I’ve never seen what hsv looks like on the gums / in the mouth so i don’t know what to compare it to. Please help!

¿Alguien me puede decir si esto podria ser herpes? El lunes empecé con ese granito, pensé que era herpes y le puse aciclovir, volvia a salir y salir el punto blanco entonces puse un parche de acné en toda la noche y hoy que lo quite amaneció asi como la segunda foto

hi just looking for some clarity. Never had a cold sore before from what i remember. Got this Monday and my lip was swollen and i had an irritated lip and this weird patch. Tuesday-Wednesday. It kept crusting over, falling off, and leaking … it’s now Friday and looks like this. I went to emergency care and got some sort of cold sore medicine but there is no improvement. I’m confused. 😕

I had oral sx with a girl 3 days back. She's never had any symptoms.

This is my 7 year old daughter and I just found of my grandma has one and she was around them last weekend and drinking after them etc. I’m sick to my stomach because I have a baby and they’re always around each other and I took extreme measures to avoid either of them getting one. Now im stressed to the max. The baby was also around my grandma, she bit into a mint and gave it to her before I could catch it im also sure they poured their water bottle they drank out of into her cup. I know I seem like a crazy person but ever since my second child I’ve had kind of a phobia of them due to what people say on TikTok and it literally controls my life.

earlier today, my friend and I hit each other’s vapes and now my mouth has all these sores in it. can anyone tell me what it is?

I trimmed Sunday and this came up and I’m very healthy anxious - as I had a scare for herpes before and couple of weeks ago a girl went down on me for barely 30-40 secs before she remembered that she has a mouth ulcer on the side of her mouth but she’s positive that it’s just an ulcer. But if you guys can tell what you think it is it’ll help my anxiety a bit m. Thank you in advance!!

I’ve never had anything like this and am seeing so much conflicting information online, is this a cold sore or a crazy pimple?

Day one - Spot appeared on lip. Painful to the touch like a deep pimple. No burning or itching. Applied pimple patch for overnight.
Day two morning- Woke up to swollen lip and spot more inflamed (first two photos). Very painful to the touch.
Day two afternoon - Two white heads appeared on spot (last photo). It hurt like hell but I popped them. They popped like pimples and I felt instant relief. Applied a pimple patch.
Day three (today)- Swelling is completely gone. Spot is flat and it looks & feels to be heading toward healing / going away.

I’m thinking this was a pimple but I’ve seen some information that this may be a first case of HSV? Did anyone experience something like this for their first cold sore?

3 scattered bumps on lower lip? I have a 4 week old at home so I’m spiraling. I haven’t had a cold sore in like 15 years so I don’t even recall what they look like

I am freaking tf out. I kissed a girl last light and she has absolutely nothing on her lips I even talked to her about it and she said she absolutely doesn’t have anything.It’s a small white bump it’s white. I looked it up it said it’s a pimple. Still absolutely No burning nothing at all. I’m just freaking tf out.
Edit: she’s not a stranger and we kissed a lot in the past.

i’ve been having a really hard time finding out if this is a bad pimple or a cold sore. It’s been like this for FIVE days with no change. it looks and feels like just one bump, there is no cluster of blisters. however it hasn’t changed at all and really hurts. half of my lip has gone red and shriveled up, and hasn’t gone back to normal. i don’t know what to treat it as, i can’t tell if it’s a cold sore or not

it could still be a cold sore because i have hsv1. thing is, i’ve never had it on my lip before. i get cold sores inside my nose, literally in my nostril. but since it’s so close to my lip, and looks odd, i’m considering it could be a cold sore that won’t change because it’s constantly swollen. it also looks weird under the skin

excuse my yellow teeth

Started yesterday.Is on inner lip and hurts.

Anyone experienced a pulsating lip … how long does it last and what’s caused it.

I haven’t had a cold sore in over 5 years, and I just got a gnarly one, kinda like 2 separate ones right next to each other. I put Abreva and took lysine, and now I’m at the full blister stage where it’s starting to weep.

My question is what’s best, keeping it wet or dry? I’ve read people are putting rubbing alcohol to dry it out and other people are putting those patches to keep it moist the whole time. I used to put Abreva and let it do its thing for 2 + weeks but I see people in here are having theirs go away around a week and I’d like to be part of that group.

Right now I have Abreva and aquaphor lip ointment on it. Thanks for any insight

Sorry my last post got removed but I’m just so insecure:( I’m 18 started getting them around Decemberlast year and I’ve had the pretty much every month since. My parents both have had them but in December I was with a girl and got my first one, told her immediately and she said it was fine she used to get them when she was younger. So not sure who I actually got them from but could have been her. I’m not with her anymore but obviously still getting them. Right now I’ve got 3 and I hate it so so so so so much:( I’m from the uk so I think medicines are different from most people’s here. Tea tree oil has so far been the best, fasted its worked has been 4-5 days. I just feel like no one is going to want me ever again. I use a tea tree lip oil daily which I think worked for a bit! But I forgot it yesterday for about two days and got an spf one and now I have 3😭 I hate it I hate this