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cold sore remedy- salt & SIZZLE

Submitted by Natasha

MOISTEN finger, dip in table salt (salt & calcium silicate), press on affected area for 30-60 seconds and dab salt off with a disposable, moistened napkin. Do this for two days as needed, or until the blister is dried up.

I just tried this for the first time tonight and it works very well to reduce swelling and dries up the blister. The salt dip is painful at first, but has drastically reduced the size and pain. Make sure to moisten the sore with Neosporin (with Lidocaine) once the sore starts becoming a "scab".Â

This will help reduce the possibility of scars and reduce the pain and itching associated. Using a non-petroleum based lip moisturizer, such as Rocky Mtn. Lip Balm with sunscreen helps when you do not have an undelightful cold sore session.Â

Sun is a leading cause of cold sores, so using this takes care of two things at once when trying to prevent this HORRIFIC ANNOYANCE! Good luck and keep smiling, even if your lip does crack.

Visitors comments

Works pretty well Comments By: Pat New York on 2005-01-26

I'm 23 years old and this is my third cold sore. I've been using salt on the sore the last three days and i've noticed a great improvement in the size of the cold sore

Salt for cold sores Comments By: Stephanie on 2005-02-26

Putting salt on the cold sore, like described here, was the best thing I have ever tried; my cold sore surfaced on Tuesday, the swelling was gone by Wednesday, and scabbed over and very small by Friday. Thanks

horrible do not do this Comments By: Carol on 2005-04-21

I read everywhere trying to find a quick fix for my cold sore. Found out about the salt. Put the salt on a few times when the coldsore was still blistered. Next day blisters were gone but so was all my skin underneth and around the cold sore so it turned from a cold sore to an open wound on my face.

Looks as if It burnt the skin or ate away at it. Just put creams that you find in the store. Valtrex works good but you have to take 2 times a day for at least 4 days or the cold sore will come back hince what happened to me.

WORKS WONDERS!! Comments By: Miss QTee on 2006-09-26

I had a cold sore surface on a Wednesday and my co-worker suggested that I use salt. Well later that day I saw a difference in the size (smaller). By Friday, it was healed and only a small scar was remaining, which eventually went away. THANKS BE TO GOD FOR SALT!!!

BURNED!!! Comments By: Jessica on 2007-04-10

It really burned!!! Im not sure if it works yet or not..I have done it twice today...it seems to be eating at my lip! Long story short...don't do it if you can't handle the burn!

I am sure it works Comments By: Jennifer on 2007-07-28

Neosporin is the top remedy that most people have in their household. It does prevent scarring as well.I live in Florida and I was boating in the salt water and some spashed my lip and it was unbeleivably painful.Usually my cold sores last at least 10 while using Abreva,but the salt immediatly stopped the swelling and it scabbed the next day.When the happened it was only two days into my cold sore.

COLD SORE HEALER FOR SCABBED OVER SORES! Comments By: JEN on 2007-09-21

I was a little too chicken to try to salt remedy, so I decided to scan my cupboard...I found a bottle of tea tree oil and dabbed some on..ok, dabbed alot on...this stuff smells really bad, but it really works!!! My sore was about five or six blisters combined that had already scabbed over. About two hours after applying the tea tree oil I could visibly see it had shrunk!!!! After the second application several hours later, even more shrinkage!! End result, completely gone two days later!! YAY! and it didn't burn!

Worked for me!! Comments By: Phil on 2008-05-28

I crushed the salt up so that it was very fine. When it's fine it can get into all the crevices. I typically did mine over night. I dabbed the salt in there and slept with it on. I think I did this for two nights. By the morning I had a wonderful scab. Once the scab is there you are in good shape. I put Vaseline on the scab and within 12 hours or so the scab just peeled off. It was kind of gross but cool at the same time lol. I had my cold sore in a weird spot, the top of my ear lobe. This is the second time it has been in that spot. The first time I got it it lasted over a week. This time it was about 3.5 days.

salt and tea tree Comments By: Ali on 2008-09-02

I woke up this morning to find two small blisters on my bottom lip. I crushed some salt and dabbed a cotton bud in tea tree. I then placed the bud in the salt and gently rubbed it on the blisters. The swelling has'nt increased and the blisters have'nt gone any bigger either. In between salt applications, i use a small dab of zovirax. I don't know if this is a good idea, but I will post any improvement tomorrow. I need this gone by the wkend. Any other advice?

IT REALLY DID ME GOOD!! Comments By: Anon. on 2008-09-09

OKay i did the salt thing like was said..and now my lip is looking SExy ass hell. MY lip was already healing but was taking forever to do it... my lip was half healed but did not scabb over..

but now my lip looks way better..it hurt like hell, but i got thru it..lol
and now i have some nesproin on my lip..

i only get one coldsore on my lip....so i dont really have to deal with like 5 like some ppl do. but my lip is fine..i am soo happy...but i go to work tomorrow....wednesday...i hope it gets better..i just have to remeber to keep nesopiron..and get me some damn chapstick.becauz i dont wear chapstick..but i will now.. wow i am just rambling on.lol

cold sore treatment Comments By: steve on 2008-10-22

got an even better way to get rid of cold sores, i've been using household vinegar and salt just using a cotton bud dab the end with a mixture of vinegar and salt and every 4 hours roll it over the sore trust me it works don't bother with all these fancy creams cos they don't work ....hope this helps people out....only one thing tho it might sting a little and taste like crap but what would you rather have a huge sore or a sore that will go in a matter of 48 hours??

L-LYSINE WORKS WONDERS Comments By: LAURA on 2008-10-22

I HAVE BEEN GETTING COLDSORES SINCE I WAS ABOUT 8, I RECENTLY FOUND THAT IF YOU TAKE 1 1000MG L-LYSINE TABLET A DAY IT KEEPS YOU FROM EVEN GETTING ONE, IF YOU FORGET TO TAKE YOUR PILL DAILY AND FEEL AS IF YOU ARE GOING TO GET ONE YOU UP THE DOSEAGE AND TAKE 2-4 TABLETS A DAY, BUT YOU MUST TAKE IT AS SOON AS YOU FEEL THAT ANNOYING TINGLE, THIS STUFF REALLY WORKS IT'S AMAZING AND ACTULY VERY CHEAP AND YOU DONT NEED A SCRIPT FOR IT, I HAVE BEEN TAKING IT FOR ABOUT 9MONTHS NOW AND AM COLDSORE FREE, I USE TO GET THEM AT LEAST 5-7 TIMES A YEAR AND VERY VERY BAD TO THE POINT WHERE I DIDNT EVEN WANT TO LEAVE THE HOUSE, JUST GIVE IT A SHOT I PROMISE IT WORKS!!!!

FINALLY SOMETHING THAT WORKS. Comments By: So0o0o0o0o0o Happy on 2011-01-25

I've been getting cold sores for years, and they normally are nasty, painful things. I'd been using Abreva and L-Lysine, but they weren't doing much.
So I tried the salt remedy last night, which was day 2 of my cold sore. i woke up this morning with a yellow, scabbed over sore, along with swollen lips, but that went away after icing them. But the scab has come off now, and i see nice pink skin. I'm still doing the salt, so it will heal quicker. But a healed cold sore in three days? And It didn't even cost a thing!
P.S., finer grains of salt sting A LOT more.
I'M SO HAPPY TO BE ALMOST RID OF THIS. I can finally go back to kissing my boyfriend. WOO HOO!

dried it up but left a scar Comments By: sara on 2008-12-13

I tried this on my third day of having my cold sore, it stung a lot, but no pain no gain right, my cold sore dried up within a few hours and turned into a scab the day after. scab came off a couple of days later but i've got a nasty red scar where it was now. dont kno if it was to do with the salt or not, i dont fancy trying it again though

THIS WORKS Comments By: Liz on 2009-01-30

i had a really nasty gooey cold sore this morning but iv'e been doing this every half an hour for the past 5 hours and my cold sore has nearly completely dried out

yeeyaaaa i like Comments By: Keenan on 2009-03-10

man i got home from skool, i felt a thing on my lip.. didnt kno wat it was. but i knew it was a coldsoree. n yea. i shoved salt n stuff on itt. it liek dried outt.. now its sorta drying outt:). im black. so u cant really see it. which is good.. unless u tell everyone u have a coldsore on ur lip lol.
haha.
well i like this one.. it works for me.
by the way.. i put ice on it for the first hour.. didnt swell up as i was expecting. so that was good.
thanks heaps..
I HATE COLDSORES, its been liek 5 months since my last one..

coldsores Comments By: coldsore haterrr on 2009-04-21

I always get cold sores.. they are soo annoying I tried the salt today..I just got the cold sore today n it didn't sting does that mean it's not working?! well anyway It looks a little smaller I guess so idk what will happen tomorrow! I hope something good I'm tired of being made fun of.

popped then salt Comments By: Patrick, NY on 2009-04-28

I woke up this am with a cold sore and was so irritated,(Ive been getting them once a yr forever) I popped the blisters then doused them in salt it did burn but they were completely dried out within 20 mins. hopefully they will be gone soon..
P.S. I don't know if it happens to anyone else but when I get a cold sore my lymphnodes become swollen and hurt too.

OOhhhh.. Comments By: Natalie, Cumbria on 2009-06-03

Once the coldsore has dried.. what should i do? Does it just disapear or what?

Salt and tooth paste. Comments By: Alex on 2009-07-21

I used White tooth paste then added salt cleared my cold sore in a matter of days! Felt it instantly.

I'm pretty sure this works! Comments By: Hatesfreakin coldsores! on 2009-08-14

I got a sunburn on sunday, and I knew I was going to get a cold sore, so before I even felt one coming on I started putting Zoverax on it, It still surfaced and got swollen, it is now Friday, and my cold sore is blistered and gross! I tried the salt remedy about 20 minutes ago, and It has DRASTICALLY decreased the swelling, It burns really bad, but I was willing to try anything! Try this, I think it really works!!!! :D

Works well! Comments By: Bongo on 2009-08-26

I woke up 2 days ago with three nasty sores on the top of my lip and under my nose. UGH! I wish we could find a cure. They ruin my life. Anyway, I broke the blisters with a pin and soaked it in nail polish remover. This tried it out alot. The next day at school the one seemed to get larger so I broke it again and now am doing salt and vinegar with a band-aide over it. It is going down alot.

Here I go Comments By: Gail on 2009-10-29

I'm trying it tonight.. We will see in the morning what happens.

salt on coldsore Comments By: Shannon on 2009-11-11

I've been salting a coldsore all day today. It has shrunk! Looks better. Eager to see it in the morning. Crush sea salt and moisten finger. Its working for me. Stinging not to bad either.

nooo Comments By: evan on 2009-11-21

i put salt on my cold sore hope for an instant remedy but it got bigger....any reasons why

Comments By: jess on 2009-12-28

I've been getting cold sores for as long as I can remember so I know the drill. PAinful and embarrassing :( Got three when I woke up yesterday morning, wasn't impressed. To say the least.
Anyways, so what I end up doing is I start off by putting chapstick on it, just to soothe it a little. then, I pop the blisters with a CLEAN pin( I know they say not to pop them, but it works for me.) and then immediately peroxide the sores. After that, I load them up with salt and keep it on there for about a minute. I wash it off and then continue to do that during the day. Before bed I do the salt treatment and then I put a very very warm tea bag on it. The Tea bag soothes it completely and also seems to help with the size. I don't know if it will work for you, but it's worked for me and the suffering time is cut down by about 3 days...sooo they only last for about 2.5 days. :) I hope this helps!

i hate this. Comments By: anon on 2010-01-04

okay so this is the second i ha dthis and i did nada yesterday and today i decided to gett rid of this danm thing , so i put salt on it and then a warm tea bag and it helped now toothpast and its not compelty dried out but pretty good ...

ahhh Comments By: NEVERGETCOLDSORES on 2010-04-26

its burning like hell but im trying to take it.. i have the yellowy scab look and i just want my lip to look normal. IM AT COLLEGE AND THIS SUCks.....

IT HURTS!!!!! Comments By: nicole on 2010-05-16

this remedy hurts so freakin badly, but seriously "no pain, no gain" so i think the trick here is after u put the salt on, u really do have to leave it there for like 45min/ an hour. do not wash it off. and after about an hour, then u can finally wash your lip and do it again and leave it on for another hour and do it again and so on and so on. the more u do this the better. and obiously know one has time to do this all day for like 2-3 days, so when u dont have time, put neosporin on it. I have a cold sore right now, so i'm going through the same thing u all are. it sux): at least we're all not in this alone

yup... Comments By: cold sorez suck man on 2010-05-26

well i can feel it kinda workin already...Lets see where i end up....

Salt and vinegar Comments By: anon on 2010-06-16

hey, i have tried the salt and vinegar method all day today and think it's working. The blisters have gone now do i stop using the slat now wait for a scab to form, im desperate to know i really need this gone by friday as it's my 30th bday party!!

Plz stop and go away mo mo here Comments By: Moe on 2010-07-25

I have been useing Zovirax that is a waste of money I seen the salt methods and I put salt on and really pushed it in so it gets in the blisters it burns and I'm going to do this all day and tonight I'm going to get alot of salt and a wet green tea bag over it thus soothing it and I'll tell you guys how it is sorry I put no periods and I also got a hot Spanish girl I'm meeting at the beach wensday so I want to not scare her with my gross cold sore good bye....

Wow Comments By: Adele on 2010-08-10

Omg I Poped the blister then put salt on its been 5 minutes since i cleaned it off and its gone down loads thank god i was really worryin because my 18th is 4 days away no need to now its near enuff gone thanks!

how often? Comments By: user on 2010-08-22

I just did it. It burned, but, it seems inflamed, like clear liquid is coming out, and it turned yellow. Is that normal? is it supposed to be like that? and how often should i put salt on it?

Putting salt on cold sore is so painful ... m unable to bear! Comments By: tanya on 2010-09-02

I got a cold sore yesterday and it got so big and swollen and got septic. I tried putting antiseptic gel for cold sore a couple of times but it burned so badly that I wiped it off.The worse is that I could just grab 2 hours of sleep at night coz it starting paining like hell. So i gathered the courage to put salt and tooth paste and ouch...its burning like crazy.I cant bear the pain and have been moaning all this while :(((( but I have a ramp show in 2 days and i have to get this okay. My face is right next to the hand fan and thats helping me alot.

? Comments By: hopfull on 2010-09-05

i sure hope that this works school starts in 2 days and i dont wanna get there and have every body starin at me even though its a pretty small 1

Lucky luke Comments By: Lukas on 2010-09-09

Got Coldsores last night was useing cream all day today and no better.Its Thursday night and I have date on Sarurday with the hottest woman I ever seen.
Salt please burn that house down.

WIsh i would've knew a long time ago Comments By: rosie on 2010-09-16

Put salt on it all day...by the night it dried up and has already formed a scab!!! No joke

OMG Comments By: Anon on 2010-09-19

The salt method realy worked I saw a dramatic decreaase in size and redness within the hour it also helped that I didn't put the salt in water I used a Qtip and georgia 80 prior vodka and salt. Yeah the burnig was incashible but well worth the results....THUMbS Up To SALT!!!

This Really Helps!!!!! Comments By: (-iHateColdSores-) on 2010-10-18

So i got this coldsore on saturday morning. Firdt thing i did was buy some Abreva. It Really helps. But i wanted coldsore to be completely gon by monday because i have school. And WHO WANTS PEOPLE STARING AT YOU LIKE IF YOURE SOME KIND OF ALIEN?!?!?!?!?! So Saturday I used the Abreva 5 times a day. Sunday I woke up and cleaned it with HYDROGEN PEROXIDE!, frequently so it would be clean. Then i put more Abreva on it. At Night i found out i could put salt on it so i did that. I put it on for the longest. Becase i just wanted it to go away before school tomorrow. After applying the salt i cleaned the salt off and cleaned it again with HYDROGEN PEROXIDE. Woke Up this morning and its a scab. The problem is I Have school today and dont want to go because i feel insecure about even a scab on my lip. I hate coldsores so much and wish these things didnt even exist. I hope this scab goes away today ! or tomorrow morning=///

worked fine Comments By: matt on 2010-10-29

this has been my first time of using this method , ive tried loads of methods but the ones i have found useful are putting a teabag on it , ( the plus side is that you get a cuppa aswell as pain relif:) another is this method it didnt hurt to much for me it might be a different story for others but mine was fine , i have been a long time sufferer of coldsores and hate them , i suffer from the large HIDEOUS type that stay for either a couple of days , or WEEKS ! if you wash and exfoliate your face twice a day and get enough sleep , Cymex and zoviorax are the best creams and vasiline is good as it is petroliam based , thanks ,by the way im only 14 and all this worked for me !

Por fin! Comments By: ELENA on 2010-11-18

IT WORKS!!!!! WISH I COULD OF DONE THIS FROM THE BEGINNING >.<

I THINK IM GETTING MY FIRST COLD SORE Comments By: bam on 2010-11-26

im going to try this cause im scared ... my lips are my fav body part!!!!

pop it first? Comments By: Anon on 2010-12-08

when using the salt method are you supposed to pop it first?

Salt works!!! Comments By: Mei1728 on 2010-12-21

Hello I've been getting these nasty cold sores ever since I was a baby, through the years I used over the counter stuff and it took like to weeks for it to dissapear. After the salt method it takes like 3-4 days I pop the bolsters n put salt n sleep on ir very painfull but worth it love it (:

MY SALT SOLUTION DAY #2 Comments By: YoureNotOver on 2011-01-05

First off I have been getting cold sores for about 15 yrs. I have tried every over the counter thing and even all the prescription stuff, the valtrex pills actually gave me such a bad allergic reaction that I was hospitalized for a week. Which reminds me, be careful when taking valtrex or similar pills or even the zovirax cream, you could be having mini allergic reactions that look and feel exactly like cold sores but are really just forms of like hives. I did that for six months, kept getting these "cold sores" so my doctor kept saying use more cream and upped my pills, next thing you know blamo, hospital!
I take 1000mg of lysine 3x a day and since I have been doing that I only get about 2 outbreaks a year and watch my diet, trying to keep Lysine rich foods high and arginine rich foods low.
Yesterday I got a MASSIVE cold sore which was followed by two more medium sized ones! I look like I got the black plague here! So I was experiment with new techniques. This time I iced the one for about an hour off and on, and on all of them I used Lysine cream and double dosed my lysine pills. This helped a bit but I believe in popping the blisters. So STERILIZE a needle and gently pop the blisters and push out the drainage with a q-tip. After that i cleaned the area with rubbing alchohol to prevent infection and put salt in a dish with warm water. I drained most of the water away and applied the wet salt to the sores until they were caked over with the salt. I let it dry for about 45 mins and then gently with a q-tip i wiped it off. I did the salt part twice last night. This morning I did the salt again and cleaned the area with tea tree oil, but dont use too much or it will redden the skin too much. So its been less than 24 hrs and the cold sores are basically entirely dried out, small scabs have formed where I popped the blisters and some scabs have even fallen off and revealed pink skin undernieth, hopefully this progress continues. I will update this forum later! :)

Ow? Comments By: Tom on 2011-01-04

Daym this actually stings, Just put it on so will see what its like tomorrow, I've got both types of coldsore, The weepy yellowey one, and the blister one :D Not a pretty sight

MY SALT SOLUTION DAY #4 Comments By: Jay on 2011-01-07

As promised I am writing a mini journal here of my progress. As I said in my first post, I had one huge and two medium sized cold sores on the sides and top of my mouth. They came on the evening of day one, on day two i salted it 3x, day 3 I did the same as well i one or two tea tree oil applications. Day 4 I woke up and all the cold sores have dried up and have scabbed over. The one huge one had the yellowish crystalized scab over it which fell off today to reveal fresh pink skin, not totally healed but getting there. The other two were smaller in size but deeper so will require more time to heal.
My conclusion, I have extremely sensitive skin and the salt solution has worked amazingly!
4 days and one has already almost healed up. Thats unheard of! :)

Salt Helps Dry Up Blisters! Comments By: dleigh on 2011-02-17

I've been getting cold sores about 1-2x a year for as long as I can remember. I usually catch them during the tingle stage and call the doctor for a prescription... This time, I woke up in the morning with three small blisters in the corner of my mouth. I started putting abreva on it that day but it was just too late.
On the night of Day 1 I washed the cold sore with table salt and warm water. Then I wet some more salt and caked it on the sore with a q-tip. I left it on while I slept and gentle washed the crusted salt off in the morning. On Day 2 the coldsore was still red but the blisters hadn't gotten any bigger or started weeping yet. I kept using Abreva during the day. That night I washed the coldsore again and put another layer of salt on it.
This is Day 3 and when I woke up my coldsore had a scab on it. It seems like the salt dried it up enough to skip the day of nasty gooey sores.
Usually my cold sores last at least a week. Hopefully this one is starting to heal already!

BAD RESPECT THE COLDSORE!! Comments By: coldsore man on 2011-03-01

i've been gettin coldsores for atleast 20 years... get urself some valtrex pills for herpes, u'll need a perscription from a doc. that is the number one best thing. lysine pills and lysine topical cream works.
salt works.

pills and abreva or lysine topical cream first.
salt second.
some thing to keep it moist last.

This really works Comments By: Michelle on 2011-03-18

Had a cold sore thursday morning, read about and tried the salt tip on this site thursday afternoon and VIOLA!, no more coldsore on Friday!! it really works - and fast!

salt works Comments By: hen on 2011-05-24

Yea it work really good and fast

? Comments By: Ophelia Graves on 2011-06-15

I always get these stupid awkward things, & like all of the comments above I hate them too. I don't know if this is going to work!! I have a club opening on Friday night & it's Thursday morning! All day yesterday I thought it could be a fat lip but good thing I caught the little F*$%er on my way to the bathroom in the middle of the night, It's 6 o'clock in the morning & I put the salt on it, HELL YA! IT HURTS! but I popped the cs & put the salt on it a few times, Now I'm leaving it for a few hours. Hopefully It will be gone by tonight?!? I'm gonna try to go back to sleep & see if this magic salt works. I'll update you, I know how helpful it is to see others feedback. <3

Well.. Comments By: Lily. on 2011-07-29

I started getting coldsores, just about last year. During my Fall break, I've never gotten one before. So like everybody else, I was freaking out. I absoulutely hate them. I get them very often, an I just recently got one lastnight, I don't really know how to take them off fast, and quickly. I usually just put Carmex on them, but that only seems to make them bigger, and more noticable. And that takes me like a week and half. So I wanted to find new ones onto making the healing go alot fater. What I did was put on salt, and fell asleep with it on, when I woke up, I noticed I got a newer one, so now i had two, the salt helped alot with the other one, that i had the night before. Im doing everything. Im icing them for about 20-30 mins ( It hurts, but worth it. ), then I put Rubbing Alcohol, and then I put salt on them. I wait till the salt starts to get dry, and crusty, so I can take it off. Then I redo, my whole process. I really hope this works, cause I look horrible with these nasty looking things on my lip. Its actaully going really good, I've noticed their not as big, and not as noticeable, at all.