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Salt and toothpaste for cold sores

Submitted by miranm1

I stayed up for hours on the internet reading up on cold sore remedies so and the most talked about things i found were toothpaste and salt.

So i tried mixing the to togeather in a thick paste.it worked wonderfully for me.

Visitors comments

Toothpaste works Comments By: mitchwacon on 2005-05-16 Toothpaste is the best thing for a developed cold sores. It cools and numbs the blood flow allowing quick healing. Never break the sores and always wash the sore area before applying the paste. Use regular white tooth paste, not the gel and watch it disappear. This is the best thing to use for the early tingly stage also.   Toothpaste works! Comments By: Krista on 2007-04-19 I have spent alot of money on coldsore remidies for years, then someone suggested toothpaste. I used toothpaste the next time I had a coldsore, and it worked fast!Nomore spending all that money on coldsore treatments that don't make it dissapear any faster.   So far, so good. Comments By: JAMIE on 2007-08-09 I'm trying the toothpaste thing for the first time and I've got to say it's doing something. As soon as I put it on, I could feel it drying up my cold sore. I bought an OTC treatment (Aveeno), it does an OK job, but I can't afford spending ten dollars ona 0.07 OZ tube every time a cold sore comes around. So I am really glad this toothpaste idea is working. Thanks!   Trying Right Now! Comments By: Samantha on 2007-09-08 Iim trying it right now and i can almost feel it working! thanks so much!   great great Comments By: jeremy on 2008-02-01 i can feel it working right noe as it like taking the hurt away   It works. Comments By: ovplain on 2008-03-23 I've been using tooth paste to get rid of my cold sores for years now and it has always worked super fast!:)   Remedy Comments By: aargh on 2008-04-01 I have got a cold sore for the 1st time in years, at the worst possible time, meeting my boyfriends parents. anyway, the salt and tothpaste combo seems to dry it up, but as soon as it was drying, i put fucidin, alcohol which seemed to undo all my work, just trying plain toothpaste now. seems soothing. wish me luck.   Try this,.,. Comments By: Scott From Maine on 2008-04-03 Heres what I did,.,., It hurt, Im not Gonna lie, But hey, Cold sores hurt,.,. First, I put some rubbin alcohol in a spoon and let the cold sore on my lip soak in it for a bout a minute, Figured it would soften up the area (as if it werent already soft) but anyways, Then I used a piece of toilet paper and wiped away the alcohol REAL HARD, Like Scrubbed it off,.,., THEN, threw that away, Used another piece of toilet paper and kinda poppped the bubbled that are the cold sores so that the liquid was oozing out,.,. wiped that away and put more alcohol into the spoon and poured some table salt in there,.,. took another clean peice of toilet paper and wiped up some alcohol and salt from the spoon and applied it to the open sore,.,., and kinda patched the whole cold sore with salt,.,.cuz in order for salt to work it has to be mixed with liquid to desolve, and you can feel it desolving into the open sores,.,. IT STINGS LIKE A #$%!*, But honostly, You can feel it penetrating and working,.,., Good luck if you wish to use this advice,.,., and remember wash you hands and always use clean toilet paper or whatever,.,., the virus lingers!!! Good Luck   Warning Comments By: mk on 2008-04-25 Using salt on a sore of any kind damages the skin around the sore, which increase your chnace of having another cold sore in the same spot.   My tip = ) Comments By: vanessa on 2008-05-08 So ive been having cold sores for a few years , i had abreva and that small tube just doesnt seem to be that efficient for some reason. I suggest that you use ice at the first sign of the infection. it really works! try it and youll see! i used ice & hand syntanizer withh alcohol && aloes gel. Use that it really works! My scold sore barely grew! It been two days now and its practically all gone. theres onlyy the dried up thing there noww. This has been the quickest way its worked for me! Try it! I will try the tooth paste thing for my next one tho!   I hear toothpaste works muy bien. Comments By: Anon on 2008-06-07 It seems everytime I aplly toothpaste it drys, strings, and somehow comes off with the scabs. Although, i dont know how much to use? how long do you leave it on? do you never let it get wet, even in the shower? Because it's always moist and it's been three days and not to good results for me. Anyone know the trick, because I got to go to senior week and graduation!   REALITY Comments By: craig on 2008-08-24 Sorry folks, but the truth is there is no quick remedy! I'm 50 and have tried everything, I mean everything. Here's my advise. When it comes to cold sores it's important to contain it from getting bigger by protecting the lip cels, use something for pain and moisturize it from cracking and bleeding. Takes 6 to 10 days depending on severity. Use Abreva to contain, and reduce pain, for days 1-5 neosporin to help with the wound days 5-8 and lip balm the rest. If toothpaste really worked, some pharmaceutical company would be making billions marketing it!   matches Comments By: sheila on 2008-09-04 I heard sulfer works, I put a match on my last one (burns really bad)seemed 5% better the next day not a huge inprovement but something. Hurts for the moment but takes the pain away in the long run..what ya got to loose matches are free!!   WORKS FAST!!!!! Comments By: Jackie on 2008-09-23 Read this page, mixed toothpaste and salt, right away cold sore was drying up in matter of minutes....   Hey! Comments By: Megan on 2008-10-01 A month and a half ago, I got a really BIG cold sore.. I mean.. This was huge. In the beggining stage, ice it! It helps the swelling go down. (I usually use the hole icecube0 After, get some mint tea bags. Put it in warm water ((Like your making tea)) Except take the tea bag and put it on your lip! It soothes and dries it out. The coldsore should be done in about 5-6 days :)   WORKS! Comments By: Nikki on 2008-10-20 YES! this actually works. I just tried it. i makes it numb and cools it down. TRUST me i TRIED everything!!!   yay Comments By: longman on 2008-10-23 Awsome. worked a charm!   Very nice! Comments By: Danny on 2008-10-25 Very nice! It worked wonderfully! Thank you!   Well look at that.... Comments By: Amanda on 2008-12-01 i had already put toothpaste on my cold sore before i looked it up (not very bright, but i'm sick, i'm not functioning that well anyway). but lo and behold, i found this site where toothpaste is a remedy for a cold sore. before i put it on, i considered a beauty tip that i got online for pimples. applying toothpaste directly on the pimple helps it by drying up the oil and gunk underneath the skin. in the morning, my pimple(s) were extremely minimized and even gone. i figured, maybe it will work for my cold sore, maybe not in that exact manner (since it develops by means of a virus), but close to it. so, i hope it works for me as it has worked for others.   Nah... Comments By: Amanda on 2008-12-04 Ok, so I tried the toothpaste remedy, and I felt the tingle, but that's about all it did. So, instead, I got some Abreva, which was highly recommended on almost all the other websites I looked up. That's the good stuff. My cold sore's almost gone, and I just started using it Tuesday.   Different Treatments Comments By: JER on 2008-12-07 Using abreva immediately when you feel the slight itch, or see it. Also, using TEA TRE OIL is great for acne and blisters and various other reasons, scratches ect. The smell of tea tree oil is strong, but it works, some gargle it for sore throats FYI. Make sure Abreva is applied many times a day, at least ten. I am aware its costly, but if you want to save the embarassment of having one, do so.   cold sore Comments By: katie on 2008-12-10 omg i have these 2 huge soars they so ugly im embaressed to be in skool!! im tryin the toothpaste n salt thing right now i hope it works wish me luck   EXPERIENCED Comments By: nana on 2008-12-11 I've been havin cold sores since the age of 4..was hard goin through life I wuld get like 3 at a time embarassin at skol jusss plain horrible! My doctor reccomended zorvirax but that's prescribed I use dat its great at burnin it off...but its alwayz good to make sure u catch it b4 hand put ice on it and the ointment. If u want one u can actuallly buy get abreva. Toothpaste does work but like I noe its not gunna disapear in a day if its severe like mines. Also I been takin lysine tablets to help build up my immune in order to prevent cold sores. U NEED a LOT of VITAMIN C! Stay heathy guys chocolate and junkfood and soda juss makes it worse. Hope I helped   Toothpaste and extract to dry those buggers up! Comments By: woohoo on 2008-12-14 If your not going anywhere or right before bed, use a pretty thick layer of white toothpaste. Not sure the gel kind works or not but white certainly does!! Since I will NOT put bleach or nail polish remover on my beautiful lips, I use lemon extract(I always have some on hand as peppermint or lemon extract work great for toothaches also). I imagine any kind with a high alcohol content will work! Dries up like a dream!   Toothpaste Works Comments By: `Anon' on 2009-01-27 I havn`t been in school in weeks, and now that im going back tomorrow a cold sore just had to magically appear on my upper lip, I was looking for home remedies to cure cold sore outbreaks and toothpaste is frequently talked about and starts drying up the infected area INSTANTLY so apply white toothpaste   My Cold Sore Remedy. Comments By: Hannah Ray on 2009-01-18 I got three cold cores all on one side of my lip. I possible couldn't imagine going anywhere with this thing on my lip! So I ask around and my mother tells me of how she used toothpaste. I thought she was insane, but I tried it. First day, it dried it all up. And now I'm going on my second and I hope to God it'll make it go away. Not only that, but I get some ice and ice it for about ten minutes once every hour. So far, it looks like I might make it alive out of this one.   toothpaste really works Comments By: freddy on 2009-01-19 i have been using toothpaste since my first cold sore and it works like MAGIC! :)   workin on it Comments By: mo mo on 2009-01-21 i jus got a cold sore yesterdy 1/20/08 & i have skool in the morning so im am tying this toothpaste thing hopev it wrk i cn feel the tingle   Well I don't know... Comments By: Holly on 2009-01-23 I've had cold sores about 4 times in my life? I'm 19 now. I got them the year before last in October SOOOO bad all around my lips when I was on Vacation in Alabama. And in March of that year they were ALL OVER MY FACE! It was horrible! Now they've popped back up with no signs last year. Just when Saturday I have to go to a party and I don't know what I'm going to do because my bf will be there. But it's kind of mandatory that I go. I'm trying the toothpaste thing. I don't know if it will work or just make them worse. It's Friday morning now. So hopefully they're pretty much gone by Saturday morning/afternoon. I had broken out with them a week or so ago. I lied and told everyone they were just whiteheads that I popped. Now I don't know what to tell everyone! =[   WASTE OF MONEY Comments By: Anon on 2009-01-24 That abreeva is a waste of money...i bought it twice and my cold sore still took forever to heal but this toothpaste thing is tingling. Hopefully that means its working..i have two days until i go back to school and i want this thing GONE...   Cold Sores. Comments By: Erica on 2009-01-31 I generally lance the blister with a needle, be careful not to lick the open spot when it weeps, just dab it with a paper towel, the weeping clear fluid has BILLIONS of the virus in it and that is how it spreads. I then began using Herpacin-L today and Lysine+, I started the day with one cold sore and ended with three. ARG. I started putting Abreva on every ten minutes once I found some. I have decided to resort to toothpaste as I have an important day tomorrow. It usually works for me, also CamphoPhinique works REALLY well at drying it up, it burns like a mother but it WORKS   DESPERATE FOR THE THING TO LEAVE! Comments By: JK on 2009-01-06 I used to get cold sores all the time. Then for about 8 years, I haven't as so much thought about them. Then one day ago I get the BIGGEST and I mean BIGGEST, UGLIEST cold sore I have ever seen. It was so out of the blue, I didn't even get the "tingling" sensation. So, naturally I put the coldsore cream I had lieing around in the cupboard, Blistex or whatever it was called. It didn't even feel like it was working. This morning I wake up and YUCK, even UGLIER and BIGGER. I know I have to be patient with these things, but quite honestly I don't have the time to be patient, I go back to school in 5 days and i DO NOT NEED this. Typical, that when my skin is near perfect one of these ugly smackers decides to turn up. Anyway, I've been applying the cream all day and no such luck. So, here I am looking on the internet for a quick-fix when I come across this website. Reading the comments I established that Toothpaste is a good remedy. So, without further a do, I wiped off the cold sore cream, which made it look uglier by the way (all yellow and red - it was sick) and applied toothpaste. It actually feels like its working. I no longer have the feeling I need to itch it and it feels a lot better - almost relieved, yet like it's still working hard to get rid of the filthy thing. Will post back with the results! Let me tell you, I will ecstatic when it does decide leave the corner of my mouth and go back to sleep!   The buggers back D= Comments By: Tenrou on 2009-01-07 Ugh. I got one at the wrong time. I go back to school Tomorrow (7/01//09) And It's all horrible and red >.< Im gonna try the toothpaste and salt thing, im gonna be laughed at again T_T   toothpaste and salt Comments By: jaime rodriguez on 2009-02-05 im trying this remedy to see if it works i have applied carmex and it did not do anything but made it look shine so i came on here to look for a remedy and usualy anyone has salt and tootpaste so i hope it works what i did was i cleaned the affected area with water then with a qtip i applied poroxide and then i got some toothpast the white stuff that has poroxide in it and then i got some salt and mixd it up and applied it to the area i do feel it tingel i wnat to get ride of this dam thing its day one hopefully it will be gone soon   NEED that thing off ASAP!!!! Comments By: lizzeth madrigal on 2009-02-12 i just woke up and im having the tingling thing and im here looking for a cure!!! the thing is i have to go to school in aboout 45 min and i have toothpaste on my lip!! the worse part is that i have a date tonight!!! what am i going to do??? is the toothpaste thing effective right away???? please help!!!   i hate coldsores Comments By: tanz on 2009-02-14 well basically wen i was in jamaica i got a cold sore i was told to use carmex but i fink it was the sea salt that done the work not the carmex so i mixed salt and tooth paste together before i even foud this site then to hear that every 1 had tryd it i feel like relly stupid i ddnt try it ages ago lol ... but yeah im just waiting for the results   here we go again. Comments By: Amy on 2009-02-22 I just got this cold sore on my top lip. and i have school tomorrow. i really dont want anyone to laugh at me especially my boyfriend! i just put toothpaste on it about 15 minutes. i feel the tingling. will it go away by tomorrow? help!   The cold sore!!!! Comments By: panther monkey 509 on 2009-03-04 I have the biggest cold sore in the freakin world!!!! ive been trying the salt thing and it seems just to clean it but not really heal it.... so dont do that im trying out the crest white toot-paste and it feels amazing on my lips but dont really know if its doing anything.... i hope so cause i have spring break comming up and a cold sore in cancun it a no go;(   it happens Comments By: the herpster on 2009-03-11 well i got another case of the dreaded cold sore. havent got one in about 4 months which is along time for me. when i was in high school i got them like every month it was absolutely humilliating people called me the herpster and im a guy u cant cover it up with makeup. id get them bad too once i remember i got 3 at once a huge one over my top lip and they took a month to heal. I tried loads of stuff but most of the creams over the counter dont work. i had this zinc stuff and that helped it heal but it just seamed to layer it over. And dont lie about having a coldsore cause the truth will come out u just got to live with it or tell people to get lost, lots of people get them atleast have the balls to telll them to do one. It really worrysome having a coldsore but try not to think of it and your immune system will work better if its not under stress, try and ignore it and for gods sake dont touch it. I find the best preventative is to keep your lips healthy and smooth, if they get red and hot its a perfect time for coldsores to grow, i got this one from being out all day in the cold. Also lysine can help in your diet, foods high in lycine are yogurt, dairy and meats, foods to avoid are nuts, chocolate, coke and fruit with acid like oranges can fester the coldsore when it appears. I used to take liscene tablets daily but dont have time for them now as im in the millitary. Staying healthy helps too i used to do lots of drugs when i got coldsores in highschool but since ive joined the millitary ive only got 3. As for when u geT an outbreak apply ice as soon as it burns straight away this can stop the virus and give u a few days or it wont come at all. Get a big pot of yogurt, as this is full of lysine and will help heal the virus from the inside. Watch your diet, for eating foods high in lysine and low in argentine. After icing if the sore is still there i use zovirax it worked a treat the first time i used it but now im more imune to it. have to say i havent tried toothpaste it will dry it up probably but i find the worst part of a coldsore is when it scabs over to heal. Usualy my coldsores go away in a day or 2 but take forever to heal properly, i was playing football today and someone hit me in the mouth the scab from the coldsore came off and my lip bled like mad, now it has to scab over again and its got a really red bloody scab thats more noticeable than before. But tonight i put tea bags on it a couple times and it really seemed to heal. First i dabbed a qtip in mouthwash and let it soak in to the sore them i put a tea bag wich i had just boiled on it and it seemed to shrink a bit. will put toothpaste on tonight to hopefully dry up the scab, i know aloe vera has really good healing properties but i got not of that. try not to let the scab crack it will heal quiker if u leave the scab, even if u think it will look better without it. good look everyone dont get too stressed about it u see it more than anyone else.,   Hope it workzz!!!. Comments By: Keenan on 2009-03-10 yoo!. ive got one rite noww. suckss big time mayne. all the boys are like wtf iz dat thang on yo lip.. im likee. damn foo it juzz a bee sting:L ahahahahha. nahh. i put ice at the first signn so it doesent swell up.. then i put toothpaste.. i can feel it tinglin.. mayne i hope this shit works, co zi ahvent seen ma gurl in 3 dayzz. dayom i dunno wat she'll say wen she seez me.. im blackk so it sorta camoflouges n u cant really see itt. unless u like tell some1 uve got one haha. well. i can feeel it tinglin.. i hope this shit workz. ill be doin this errtime i get one. I HATE COLD SORES, its been 5-6 monthz since my last one. im outt   heeeelp Comments By: ss33 on 2009-03-15 i get them all the time, i always buy zovriacks but it just heals at the same pase as if i leave it to heal itself, all day ive been putting perfume on it, and the blisters have gone a bit strange, im wondering if before you put the toothpaste on should you pop it??   ooo noooo Comments By: janette on 2009-03-22 omg goin out dis wknd nd wat do yano bloody cold sore so im gona try dis toothpaste fing hope it works lyk do ya av to mix salt wit it r wa?? btw lykin des ideas didnt no wat i was goin to do cnt stop touchin da fing!!! lol x   Just a try Comments By: Tee Tee 82 on 2009-03-25 I just applied the salt and toothpaste to my cold sore for 20 minutes just to see what will happen. It dried up a little. If it did it in this little time, then I know it should work tonight when I get home. DEFINITELY will be applying this tonight. Big day tomorrow. THANKS FOR THE GREAT TIP!!!!!   cold sores suck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Comments By: mslovely2011 on 2009-03-27 im trying it know and seems to be working other things like tea bags only shrink them for a moment or two then the hurt even more.... sucks doesn't. I hope this works dammit i was supposed to go out tonight   HOPEEEE IT WORKS ! Comments By: Mina. on 2009-04-05 i can feel thee tinglee lol . hopefully tht means its working cuhs i really wannna go tooo school tommrow .   Trying it now Comments By: Carleigh on 2009-04-07 I just got my cold sore two days ago...I've just heard about this toothpaste thing...Im not sure what "stage" my cold sore is at...its dry...and kinda looks like a scab but you know...anyhoo i just put some toothpaste on it...and its been burning for about 5 minutes now....hopefully it works :)   COLD SORES SUCK Comments By: Cookielover on 2009-04-15 ok guys i say that you dont need to use anything but Anbesol it works better and makes it go away in 2 to 3 days. it is really good. The other people are pulling ur leg cause i tried it all and it didnt work. but this stuff really does work.   TOOTHPASTE? Comments By: jer18 on 2009-04-20 I GOT MY COLD SORE 4 DAYS AGO, AND I STILL HAVE IT.. HOPE TOOTHPASTE WORK WITH ME. I TRIED GARGLE WITH SALT AND NOTHING HAPPEN. I USE TO DRINK MYCOSTATIN TABLET AND UNTIL NOW ITS STILL THE SAME PAIN...   fixing cold sores Comments By: anon on 2009-04-28 The toothpaste thing worked for me everytime I tried it so far.I woke up today with another cold sore so I applied regular clear white toothpaste not the colored ones and I already feel it working so try it out.   Long time cold sores Comments By: Cold sore expert on 2009-04-29 Ive been getting cold sores since i was practically born. I have had um to 20 a year and often times more than 1 at a time. there is a perscription you can get from you doctor that helps otherwise use abreva. I just got a cold sore yesterday and it is almost gone now. put it on right away and it will help. also take lysine pills they help lessen your chance of getting one   I HATE COLD SORES! Comments By: CC on 2009-05-06 At the moment I have 5 cold sores on my mouth, it looks awful and feels even worse! I usually take acyclovir tablets which really help but I have ran out, picking up a prescription from the doctor tomorrow! So I'm trying the toothpaste now, it's stinging like mad! I hope it works or else I'm going to work tomorrow with a paper bag over my head!   toothpaste or pepto bismol ?? Comments By: Diana B. on 2009-05-12 hey everyone i just wanted to say i cured my cold sore by putting some anbesol at 1st when i statrted to get the cold sore and then after an an hr or so i cleaned the infected area with alchol and then i put thoothpaste and salt and it really works .. but before i found out about all that i used to use pepto bismol .. i know who would of thought but it works not fast but it does after five days it was gone!! BUT ALWAYS MAKE SURE U USE HAND SANITIZER!! or keep ur hands clean so it doent spread !!   coldsore Comments By: sandy on 2009-05-28 OMG!!! i have 2 ugly cold sore on my lip im tryin the toothpaste thing i hope it works...   TOOTHPASTE WORKS BETTER THAN MEDICINE Comments By: Jessica Bunney on 2009-06-08 i but the toothpaste on my freshly washed lip and it stung alot for the first 5 minutes. but after that it was easing. i then took it off with a wet flannel after a mild 15 minutes.it made a drastic change and relieved all pain. i then put "carmex" lip balm on after. this lip balm helps to prevent cold sores and reduce the time in which they last. each night you should put the toothpaste on before bed and wash it off in the morning for best results. this works brilliantly. DO NOT USE SALT WITH IT AS SALT INCREASES THE CHANCE OF FUTURE COLD SORES DRASTICALLY AS IT WEAKENS YOUR SKIN TISSUE!!!!!!!!!!!   I HATE THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!! Comments By: Anon on 2009-06-08 Seriously, I'd rather have a hangover than have a cold sore. But I've got one, one huge one surrounded by little ones. It's a monster!!! and it itches and hurts like crazy. I just tried out the toothpaste mixed with salt thing and my god it BURNS! But I am determined to keep it on and GET RID OF THIS THING.   Cold soars Comments By: sdd on 2009-06-08 hey guys i get cold soars about once a year so i have tried everything on the internet so i am goign to try this overnight wish me luck!   THE BEST PERIOD Comments By: DSA on 2009-06-17 I have rheumatoid arthritis (age 48) and a suppressed immune system by Enbrel and previously, Methotrexate, which gave me repeated cold sores every 20 days or so for 6 months. NOTHING ever worked. I stopped the MXT and had no more cold sores for several months and figured that episode was over until now. 2 days ago there was the itching, and then, there it was again, under my lip in its traditional spot. Having used all the expensive stuff in the past, and using Releeve for 1 day to no noticeable difference, I decided to go with the toothpaste & salt ( sea salt) combo, and SURE ENOUGH, I am on the road to healing and instead of having it just get uglier and uglier until it runs its course, it's going away. I would never recommend such a course of treatment, if I didn't know FIRST HAND that it is absolutely true. However, it is just as crucial to catch it at Day 2, otherwise, no promises. Thank you guys for the tremendous tip! Wish you could find one for my RA!   Toothpaste and salt for cold sore Comments By: Cara on 2009-06-23 Thanks for the tips. I've just applied tooth paste and mix salt to my cold sore and it's burning like hell. But I'm not having this thing on my face for another day. Will leave it on all night. Will let you know the outcome tomorrow. Wish me luck...   YES TOOTHPASTE WORKS - BUT HERE IS SOMTHING BETTER! Comments By: Dr. McDougall on 2009-06-27 YOU MAY FIND THIS HARD TO BELIEVE... BUT THE FASTEST HOME REMEDY FOR CURING A COLD SORE IS URINE.. CONFIRMED BY DERM DR'S AND ALL OVER THE NET... FACT IS - USING THE TOOTHPASTE METHOD WILL TAKE 3 DAYS FOR THE LEGION TO HEAL - WHILE IF YOU USE URINE, APPLY IT DIRECTLY TO SORE, IT TAKES 28 HOURS TOPS, THE RESULTS ARE ASTONISHING! GOOD LUCK WITH WHATEVER YOU DECIDE   dnt use toothpaste Comments By: kelly on 2009-06-29 I would not reccommend the toothaste it made mine flare up worse again so i used the vinegar and that made it dry over the same day so use that instead   vinegar n toothpaste Comments By: kelly on 2009-06-28 hey, this is the 3rd day of my coldsore, i have been using a otc coldsore cream and its just got more blisters n worse.. So came on here looking for tips. I have been applying vinegar all morning and that reduced the size of the 3! Coldsores i have at once altho it stings a lot! now that there smaller ive put toothpaste on in hope that they'll dry up now n go away! Will let u know the results x   WOW IM TRYING IT Comments By: ARIEL ♥ on 2009-07-01 IM RYIN THE TOOTHPASTE THING &&IT BURNS RELE BAD....I HOPE IT WORKS   yet another cold sore.. im usin dis Comments By: cold sore vitcm on 2009-07-08 i been havn cold sores since i was in 5th grade. now im bout to be a senior.. we n da summer and i had alll summer to have a sore.. but suddenly we im bout to take senIOR PICS TOMARO IT WANNA POP UP.. abrEVA REALLY WORKS BUT it'll take like a day or 2 to be gne.. this came up las min! but i got da toothpaste on rite now.. an its stingin a lil.. i hope by tomaro is gone   CHECKING IT OUT Comments By: ANON on 2009-07-08 I'VE JUST APPLIED DA TOOTHPASTE IVE HAD THIS COLDSORE FOR 2 DAYZ NOW SO HOPEFULLY THE TOOTHPASTE THING WORKS, AND MY LIP IS SWOLLEN IT LOOK HORRIBE AND MANKYY AND I DIDNT INTO SKWL 2DAYY AND I JUST WONNA GET RID OF IT FAST, MIGHT USE ICE AFTER I WIPED AWAY THE TOOTHPASTE - I CAN FEEL THE COLDSORE TINGLING WID THE TOOTHPASTE ON AND I MIGHT LEAVE IT ON FOR 10 MINS SO GOOD LUCK TO THOSE HU TRY DIZ (: X   Cold sore remedies! Comments By: Mandi Waddell on 2009-07-25 Well i have a cold sore right now and I've always used Abreva and it did just the same thing as like Carmex. But anyway my sister always put toothpaste on her pimples so I applied that technique to my coldsore because I figure that it is the same basic principle: To dry it out! Well I got the cold sore yesterday and I put the toothpaste on it and it seems to be working very well. It not only has tkebn the pain away but, it hasn't gotten any bigger so that is definitely a good sign that this stuff works. It's great!!!   The dreaded cold sore! Comments By: no onee on 2009-07-27 another one popped up this morning.. out of the blue!! wtf! no tingling warning of anything@ im sitting here with toothpaste on my lip because i have a cook out tomorrow and i dont wanna look like a herpes queen! at least its the summer and i dont have to go to school! at one time i got 5 at once! it was an allergi reaction to that chapstick 'softlips'... ill never use that again!! then sophomore year i got three on my top lip three days before homecoming! it was awful. i called my doctor and i was perscribed a medicine that is for aids patients, for when they get out breaks. no i dont have that kind of herpres, but it worked so well!! you couldnt even see them at homecoming! now i use denavir lotion or alcyvir pill ... ABREVE DOES NOT WORK! 18 dollars for that tiny tube is a rip off!!! ugh i hope this goes away by the cookout!   BEGONE ALREADY THIS IS NOT FAIR!!!!!!!! Comments By: ashley on 2009-08-09 ok this is day 9th of having the goddam cold sore and i miss kissing my bf and im sad cuz idk what to do anymore its ruining my last days : (( i need help my lips has unswelled so im good but the nasty white goopy looking skin is there so do that mean it has to dry? can i kiss my boyfriend? what can i do? it peels off and comes back :( im so miserable i need help NOW!!!!!!!i try using carmax and chapstick and all that shit but c'mon DISAPPEAR ALREADY!!!! I WANNA WEAR MY NEW LIPSTICK I BOUGH T5 DAYS AGO :( I WANNA KISS AGAIN :( i had a new baby niece and every had the chance to kiss her forehead except me :( everyone grrets each other with kisses on the cheek except me every smiled in the picture except me cuz my lips were dry and they hurt :( i was sad all that day on the baby shower :( i fell like this NASTY COLD SORE WILL NEVER DISAPPEAR!!!!:((   cold sora r a pain :(( Comments By: ashley on 2009-08-05 i just got my cold sore 3 days ago and all i did was use crmax thinking to myself "this better work" but it didn't cuz it just kept my lips moiste and i didn't want that i want that feeling that "it will work" feeling and DAM nothing until i stopped by this here:))) i was happy to read every ones stories idk about salt lolz im scared :)) so ima do the toothpaste thingy lolz bu tjust one thing is the toothpastes with bakingsoda ok to use??? if anyone have an answer plz get me at my yahoo.com: asian_sweets19@yahoo.com   toothpaste hurts my lips:OOOOUUCHH!!!! Comments By: ashley on 2009-08-05 im crying a lot :( cuz no one told me this was gunna burn my lips :(( im mean i got the toothpaste on my lips now and its killing me!!!!! what did i do wrong now???? is it suppose to feel this tingly??? i mean OUCH!!!!!!! this is killing me and i have to go to bed now like its 2:25 am and its hard to go to bed like OUCH!!!!!!   hold the salt Comments By: Dino on 2009-08-06 I think the guy who said to put salt on it was just having a laugh at our expense. I tried it and it burned like crazy, it took hours for it to stop hurting and the salt was deteriorating the skin around the sore. I took the salt off and went back to the abreeva. The Abreeva seems to work for me because my cold sores tend to get bigger and bigger for the first few days or even a week. This was my first time trying the Abreeva and the sore has stayed the same size it was when I first put the Abreva on it. The Abreva is supposed to stop the virus from "fusing with" (read here, "blowing up") the cells of your lip. So, while the Abreva doesn't kill the virus, it can't do the type of damage that takes (for me at least) three weeks to heal (God, I can't take that). I am in day three of my latest one and the sore is only the size of a pea, and getting smaller, usually it's spread all across my lip by now. I have found some good tips on this page all of which I'm sure I'll try. I've got campho -Phenique on my grocery list and I'm finally making an appointment to see a doctor to get the good stuff. But for now, the Abreva seems to be helping, and that's all ican ask. Don't try the pure salt though, I don't believe that was meant to be helpful.   abreeva worked well Comments By: Dino on 2009-08-06 Here's the story of my latest cold sore. I haven't had a "bad" one in several years, mostly because I never go anywhere without a tube of camphor lip balm (I use Natural Ice)I use the lip balm several times a day, 365 days a year. This alone cut down my frequency from several per year to one every few years. When I feel the "tingle" I use the lip balm and most of the time it never breaks through the skin and goes away in a few days and nobody knows but me. On Monday (8-3-09)I felt the tingle around noon, I used the lip balm furiously but this one was ferocious. by 6:00 pm it was a bump on my lip about the size of a pea, but not yet blistering. Tuesday morning there was not much change. By Tuesday afternoon the bump was the size of a large pea and beginning to send its horrible little pustules to break the surface. Wednesday morning the pustules had broken through, so I called off work and did a little research. I read a bout Abreva and decided to try some. Since it's been a long time since I was in high school, the $20.00 price tag for tiny tube wasn't really a problem (although I did have a mild case of "stickershock"). I tried the Abreeeva and the sore stopped growing (which is unusual for me, they usually spread once they break the skin, which is why I would caution you against puncturing the pustules with a needle and soaking with alcohol as some above have suggested, I've tried it, it just makes it spread and take MUCH longer to heal) But anyway, it stopped growing it didn't spread which was great news. I kept the abreeva on it, adding more from time to time until I had built up a little "cap" over the blister. Wednesday night, I took a wet Q-tip and gently wiped away the "cap" and was amazed to see that all the pustules were gone. Happy with that, I put more abreeva on and went to bed. Thursday morning it felt good--no activity underneath, if you know what I mean--so I left the "cap" on it all day Thursday. Now it's 3:30 pm on Thursday, and I just had to take a look. I washed the cap off again and the damn thing has nearly completely healed! I put more abreeva back on and I am hoping I can go to work on Friday (I called off Wednesday and Thursday). So far so good. I will probably try the following next time. Ice, campho-phenique, and even toothpaste, but I'll have the Abreeva handy.   Tylenol and Aspirin Comments By: Ty Lenol on 2009-08-07 I've tried everything.. but today I was told to try crushing up some tylenol.. then dip your finger in cold water.. rub some of the crushed tylenol onto your finger.. then apply onto cold sore.. let it sit on there for about 5 mins or until you feel it tingling. then remove with a cold wet cloth. worked wonders for me! good luck :p   try this.. Comments By: anon on 2009-08-08 hey, i had cold sores all on my face.. but my parents were taking my swimming at a friends house.. and after i was done swimming, around 2-3 hours i noticed my cold sores were starting to go away! i ended up swimming till 3 in the morning and when i got home they were completely gone..   hopefully this works...:( Comments By: adam... on 2009-08-09 I've had these growing up....and continue having them ...idk why but hopefully this works....   VERY IMPORTANT Comments By: eliam on 2009-08-11 ive been gettin coldsores ever since grade school but never have they been this severe last night i had one and it was bothering me so i kept rubbing it no an behold this morning i woke up with 5 on my bottom lip!? dont touch your cold sore because it will spread like a wild fire anyways since i been gettin them for so long i been tryin so many different things i tried lysine abreva blistex there all pretty good but they wont work in just 1 or 2 days you have to be patient but i wanted to see where i could find a quick fix since i have so many i usually just get one but my lip looks like i freakin have herpes or some shit and i hate it i tried putting salt on it but it seemed to make it dry out but then get a little worse later on so now im tryin tha toothpaste thing and i gotta say its very soothing and feels good but its not burning but idk if that means its working or not... ill update.   Do not try match remidy!! Toothpaste works!! Comments By: Donnie on 2009-08-15 my buddy tried the match remidy and he blew his lip up...to bad for him... but i tried the toothpaste remidy and it worked just fine   Salt on a wound Comments By: Vicki on 2009-08-21 I've read through everyones story and it seems everyone has a different scenario. I would like to suggest not using salt but rather use a milder sea salt or saline powder (they sell packets of it for mixing with water and you can use it to cleanse your sinuses and often you get this after you have a piercing to help heal the wound). ALSO I would never use peroxide or toothpaste with peroxide on the sore since peroxide kills cells and good ones as well as bad ones. Making it even harder to heal. Alcohol will burn like no tomorrow and causes your lip to throb. So the saline and Abreva are what I'm sticking with   toothpaste does work on coldsores Comments By: melissa on 2009-09-04 I just had to post regarding the toothpaste working on cold sores. I ended up getting a really bad head and chest cold from my neice. Ended up getting really bad cold sores on my lips. I have not even wanted to go out in public. Went online and someone had said to try using toothpaste and so I decided to try it. I couldn't believe it actually started to work and actually dried up the cold sores and actually my cold sores are starting to heal now. Who would have thought??? Thank God for toothpaste..it really does work.   I HATE COLDSORES Comments By: Roxy on 2009-09-08 The last time, and only other time, I had a cold sore, like 5 of them appeared and it was so bad I had to be put on medication. This time when I felt one coming, I was freaking out. Sure enough, the little stupid thing popped up. I don't have money or insurance right now, so I put perfume and toothpaste on it right away. Iced it too of course. It's only been 12 hours and I can already see it going down. Sure, medication would be better, but for those of you like me who don't have that luxury, this works!!!   Bring swelling down weaking Lip then use salt Comments By: Keepsie on 2009-09-22 ive been having cold sores since i was 10. Im 19 this is what i did. I get a cup put salt and baking soda in it and water half way, then microwave 3 mins then i take the cup out put my mouth over it breath to let steam work. steam soften lips and if ur is swelling it brings it WAY down after like 4 times i then put salt on my lip for 15 mins then take it off, steam it again then sleep.:)   It actually does work Comments By: ihatecoldsores on 2009-09-21 Sunday evening when going to bed I got that familiar tingling sensation. Thursday I woke up with redness and swelling on my upper life. I was depressed like hell and out of Lysine, which usually stops my cold sores in their tracks before breaking out. A coworker suggested toothpaste so I googled and gave it a shot. I wore it before bed and woke up with some redness still there but the cold sore was coming to a head(a white spot/puss etc)..Friday was miserable as I tried to hide my face the entire day.... I kept the toothpaste on at night again and periodically wore it during the days on the weekend. The cold sore crusted and peeled off sunday afternoon. This is some dry spots on and around my lip but the sore is gone!!! Amazing, it wasn't an overnight solution as it took a couple days but it worked. I just got my Lysine in the mail today so now Im going to make sure I'm never caught without it ever again but if I am I know that toothpaste is another quick and easy solution   Try this Comments By: E man on 2009-09-27 I recently had a outbreak of cold sores, and this got rid of them super fast. Materials: Needle Rubbing Alcohol Cotton balls Steps: 1) Heat up the needle to sterilize it. 2) Wipe down the infected area include the sore with a cotton ball with alcohol on it. 3) Take another cotton ball and prep it with alcohol. It HAS to be a new cotton ball every time. 4) Puncture the sore so that the liquids start oozing out, and then quickly wipe up all the liquids with the cotton ball. ***If you puncture it more then once. Make sure to clean it off before you puncture again. Because the liquids are on the needle, and you will just be putting them there again*** 5) Clean it up once more with a NEW cotton ball with alcohol on it. 6) Pour a little bit of alcohol in the bottles cap, and pour it on the sore. 7) Wipe the sore every 2-3 hours with a cotton ball with alcohol.   I believe its working:) Comments By: HelloDarling;) on 2009-10-05 I just put the toothpaste and salt on, and the swelling has already gone down in the past 7minutes. It also feels refreshing and like its working. I am going to surprise my boyfriend tomorrow for his birthday so i hope it goes away by tomorrow morning!! wish me luck! :)   Here it goes... Comments By: Erin on 2009-10-09 this morning i woke up with a little cold sore on my lip so right away i put toothpaste on it ( the toothpaste i used was not the white kind) it seemed to help for a few hours...i dont wanna go to school on monday and have my boyfriend see me with this ugly thing on my lip now i put sea salt on it... im gonna try sleeping with the salt on my lip and i hope when i wake up it will get smaller or not look as gross.....i have never uesd sea salt on it before and it kinda burns..idk if thats good or bad.... wish me luck!!!!!!!   everyone responds differently Comments By: Beck on 2009-10-18 I have had cold sores my entire life (shared a bottle with the wrong kid at day care and was nice and shared the virus with my sister). I got the outbreaks a few times a year.....shes had maybe 3 her entire life. I have PTSD, a compromised immune system, and was hit by a car yesterday not long after learning my bf was close to leaving me after 2 years. I started using abreva and it worked miracles but lost its effectiveness. I am trying the toothpaste thing. I have always applied ice which does nothing but slow the development (this is a biological thing as it slows the flow of liquid but does not stop it). I have tried puncturing it which does get rid of the bubble but not the infection and the scabs last longer. Recently I picked up a Lysine topical treatment with honey and zinc oxide and other crucial elements. This worked extremely well but again it lost some effectiveness. I still use the Lysine but with less luck. The simple fact is that each person responds differently to different treatments...AND each individual cold sore on the same person responds to treatments differently. -I am guessing this might have something to do with the cause of the individual sore. Eventually there will be a FDA and medically proven treatment that prevents them all together and we can possibly even eliminate the HSV all together. Unfortunately because it is not a life threatening virus, it is not on the top of the list of things to do. We just have to be patient and remember that the virus is systemic, it WILL stay there (for now). AND MORE IMPORTANTLY THAT EVERY PERSON AND EVERY SORE IS UNIQUE TO TREATMENTS.   Horribe Horrible Cold Sores Comments By: Ashleigh on 2009-10-18 hey everyone i'm in grade 8 and me and my mum get cold sores alot (whihc sucks) we have tried everything.. cold sore treatments don't seem to work for us, but we apply ice and that seems to work. i have school tomorrow and definately aren't going if this thing hasn't gone. i have been putting ice on it for hours then thought i'd research so now im sitting here with toothpaste on my lip and yes i too am getting the tingling feeling and it feels like it is working (well i hope so) wish me luck!   Cold sores Comments By: Ty on 2009-10-19 Hi my name is Ty and today ( 20/10/09 )i woke up with a cold sore on my upper lip and one just on the rim of my left nostole. Even though i am only a 13 year old boy i still care how i look because im tyrying to impress girls and cold sores do not pick up chicks...lol and today ive just tried the toothpaste and salt thing...its been on 4 about 10 mins and its burning!! that must mean its working i think....im wait for results and will leave another comment, :) with me luck!   IT FREAKIN WORKS! Comments By: Sarah. on 2009-10-26 so, i've had this cols sore for almost a week now. i didn't think there was any type of cure at first. so, of course, i HAD to use google. it brought me here. i tried the toothpaste and salt thing, i left it on for about ten minutes, and even though the infected area is still a little red, it's almost gone! i'm so happy. my birthday is in 4 days, and my boyfriend and i have plans, if you know what i mean ;] anyways, i highly recommend you try this treatment(:   THIS WORKS! Comments By: Jacob on 2009-10-24 Okay, so this is my first time trying the "Toothpaste and salt" method, and it is burning and i can feel it penetrating the sore! I hope I will wake up in the morning and it will be gone! :D   Please work ! Comments By: Melissa on 2009-10-28 Am Going out for halloween on sat at the dancing wantin to look good in ma sailors outfit and 3 horrible coldsores appeared on am face yesterday a put zovirax on bt it seems to make them worse. So I am Putting the toothpaste n salt thing on its burning bt a hope it wrks !!!   If there is a God... Comments By: G on 2009-10-30 Please make this thing go away! I just put toothpaste on it and I indeed feel the tingling. I really couldn't care less what it feels like I just want it to LEAVE! Why are we the lucky ones who have been chosen to suffer like this? I think I would have rather broken my leg then wake up with a fever blister!!   BELIEVE IT OR NOT... EAR WAX!!! Comments By: Joe Blow on 2009-11-07 I know this sounds strange but I'm telling you, use Ear Wax on a cold sore. It really works! I've read/heard that it has to be your own ear wax though (like you would use someone else's). When I would feel one coming, or even a day after the cold sore came, ear wax would still heal it, Quickly! Google it if you don't believe me.   toothpaste,salt,carbomide peroxide and eucalyptus oils is best Comments By: Alex UK on 2009-11-08 I have been having cold sores for years now and after many experiments and potions i came up with one all you do is mix a bit of toothpaste with lots of salt and carbomide peroxide along with 2 drops of eucalyptus oil into a thick paste and place it over the sore i guarantee it will be gone the next day,Carbomide peroxide is simply the stuff the dentist whitens your teeth with which can be bought on ebay,Good luck   TOOTH PASTE WORKS! Comments By: ex-cold sore posterboy on 2009-11-11 Out of desperation I once tried toothpaste for a cold sore...ever since it always works and fast !   TOOTH PASTE WORKS! Comments By: ex-cold sore posterboy on 2009-11-11 Out of desperation I once tried toothpaste for a cold sore...ever since it always works and fast !   Fantastic! Comments By: Anon on 2009-11-17 No matter when you put the toothpaste and salt on, it will always make the cold sore heal up. I've had cold sores my entire life, and this is the only solution I've ever come across.   response to craig Comments By: V on 2009-11-28 That logic that toothpaste can't possibly work because then pharmaceutical companies would be making billions already is wrong. A ton of home remedies work, and pharmaceutical companies can't make a profit b/c it is already a mainstream product, and they can't put a patent on it.   right now Comments By: Hannah on 2009-12-01 i have just put the toothpast on my cold sore and it feels really nice and soothing. i hope my coldsore goes down maybe by tomorrow or soon, :@ but i'm hopeful this will work !:)   I'll try tonight! Comments By: Milly on 2009-12-02 Okay so its 02/12/09 and i'm meeting my boyfriend on saturday! I havnt seen him in ages and i was sooo excited....BUTTTT....ON YESTERDAY I GOT A COLD SORE =[ I've tried Penicillin but it doesnt seem do be doing much. I just wake up with the powder stuck to mi lips O_O So, i'm at school now. Hopefully when i get home and try the toothpaste thing out it will work!!! i have 2-3 daysss MAX.   It works! Comments By: kimberly on 2009-12-09 Hey everyone - I noticed no one really posts after all is said and done. Here's what I did: Day 1 1. Poked a tiny hole in the little blisters to drain with a sterilized needle(small hole so it won't damage skin). I dabbed it with toilet paper to soak up the clear stuff. (gross I know) 2. Put the salt/water paste, and when the water dried up I dipped my finger in water and kind of touched the sore so the salty water would get in there better 3. Put toothpaste on it overnight (this whole thing happened just at night so my treatment was only a couple of hours) Day 2 -The sore was gone, the only thing there was a little yellow scab 4. I already had Abreeva so I put some of that on it. Day 3 It looks basically healed, its a bit rough to the touch but you can't tell it was a cold sore. It sort of just looks like dry skin/irritation Hope it works out for everyone else!   ahhhhh Comments By: natasha on 2009-12-15 i have 5 coldsores and another one just broke out in the last hour ! ouchh, i have toothpaste and salt on them now but only the ones that broke are burning .. i find abreva works and also i used peroxide andd nailpolish remover and they are almost gone but becarefuL they spreaddddd soo easy :(   ice, rubbing alcohol, & toothpaste! Comments By: Jes on 2009-12-20 I've been getting these suckers forever! Abreva used to work for me, but not anymore. Now when I feel the tingle I put toothpaste on it & it's usually gone by morning. If I don't catch it in time I will use ice to take down the swelling, then rubbing alcohol, & then toothpaste. I've been using this remedy for 3 years now & it's the only thing that works for me :)   How long... Comments By: Ryou on 2009-12-23 How long do you leave it on? o.O   MY TOOTHPASTE EXPERIENCE Comments By: bridget on 2009-12-27 Ok so its almost new years (happy new years in advance 2010). and i dont want to miss out on the fun due to my coldsore so i got desperate, checking the net for coldsore remedies and solutions etc. iv had it for 3 days now, it seemed pretty small but im worried it wont fully heal in the next 4 days. 1st day (half) it was jus a small blister and i wasnt even sure if it turn into a coldsore (later half that day) it turn into a coldsore . 2nd day it got the white puss stuff and had babies While i was eating a sandwhich it popped and i squeezed the puss out. im not sure if the babies where alrdy that big before hand or if while i pushed puss out and absorbed it into tissues the pressure made the babies grew bigger. anyway today is the 3rd day. around 9pm. i put a little bit of toothpaste on it (dabbed a little amount right on the coldsores head using the end of my toothbrush, i alawys chuck away my toothbrush after having a coldsore anyway). the toothpaste got some reaction feeling. not too sure how to describe it. a sort of cool but itch feeling. the toothpaste melted within seconds. so i dabbed it off using a cotton tip. im not sure why maybe due to the toothpaste or because the cotton tip is hard but a bit of the coldsore fell off. like peeled away. my 3 day coldsore was still in the blister stage (soft bubbles , blisters with puss) but after i removed the toothpaste it was a deflated yellow skin scab looking thingl like as if it was in the scab stage but has been wet. i put some more toothpaste on it now, im removing the toothpaste after it melts because the feeling changes to an itch which im assuming is not so good. i try to make sure that the toothpaste is ONLY put on the coldsore (not to make mess, im afraid it may spread). and that when i remove it i do it very carefully, so as not to spread it. keep it clean. this time i will try to remove the melted toothpaste with tissue instead of cotton tip. it was messy and hard trying to remove the toothpaste with tissue. had to do it lots of times, gently dabbing. and not all of it can be taken off. because some stay in the coldsore cracks and also because a bit fell off before i dont want any scarring damage. im not really sure if the toothpaste did any positive to it but it is defiantly less noticeable now, it has become flat. and the white puss being removed. its all a flat pink colour. so from a distance not very noticeable (my this coldsore is smaller then some past GIANT-medium ones. its about the size of a 2d pea)and on my upper lip im going to leave it for a while to see what happens with it with natural healing process for a while. ill post comment again what happen. i put the toothpaste on x2 in liek 10 min time (including clean time). ----------------------------------------- in the past when dealing with coldsore i always try to be careful when brushing my teeth (avoiding the area where the coldsore is at, which is kind of gross but after its gone i THOROUGHLY brush that missed out area. and when showing i try to avoid getting the coldsore wet (altho its a bit hard bcoz of steam also moistens it) then i gently dab it with tissue if it got wet. and wipe away mess from around it. i try to eat any foods that require minimal opening of the mouth and i dont like to stretch my lips too much with laugh, yawn or smile too much. although sometimes this cannot be avoided. if the coldsore is at the dry scab stage and u open ur mouth too wide there is risk of it crack open and bleed (really hurt). some people moisten it a bit to avoid it crack but i prefer always keep dry and clean and encourage it healing by avoiding things that can disturb healing process. i guess from my experience this has worked for me but everyone is different, so need to find what works for u. ---------------------------------------- iv tried all those expensive creams that promise to get rid of coldsore but none have worked for me. they in fact make it worse. when i used them they just paused the healing process, the coldsore stayed in the blister stage for 2-3 weeks. which usually for me its a blister upto 5-8 days then turns into scab. ---------------------------------------- when i was young i use to just randomly get coldsores once 1-3 years. but now in my late teens its much different, im a different person who thinks differently and may do some stupid things. my case is i get coldsore if i havent, ate or slept for more then 3-4 days (thats my limit then i know im going to be in trouble) if ive had high stress and anxiety recently for more than 2-3 days+. if iv had a fever/flu or cold either it being a really bad case or i had something ontop of that such as i was stressed and sick then also = coldsore. stress from anything causes it for me, stress from work, study, family, friends or relationships. i think best thing is keep immune system strong. try to eat well, keep fit (mentally and phsyically). because we all know once we got coldsore its sooo torture sucks... i fkn feel sad and hate it. dont even want to go outside.   the original colgate is a winner! Comments By: staceylee on 2009-12-29 hey guys, i have been haveing coldsores since a very young age, very sore very irritateing and nasty... recently i developed a new coldsore, getting very aggitated with it i cold not stop touching it or fiddleing with it WHICH by the way is the WORST possible thing to do, so my nan tells me go in the bathroom and try aa little bit of colgate on it maybe it will help, i mean i heard that the was an old tale or what have you, but though what the heck lets try it.. anything that may have the chance of helping is worth it! so i used some original white colgate, not the colgate involveing the gell just the original one. my result was excellent!swelling went down veeeeeeery fast! and within 3/4 days my coldsore was allmost visable.. its easy faster and a very good money saver! good luck   MY TOOTHPASTE EXPERIENCE- continued Comments By: bridget on 2009-12-30 so its been 2 days since i put the toothpaste on my coldsore. im not sure if it was due to the toothpaste or wat but it turned hard after a few hours and was flattened after putting on the toothpaste. it was in the puss blister stage those 2 days beforehand and it didnt look like it would of turned into the scab healing stage within those 10 hrs on its own if i didnt put toothpaste on it. so im quite sure the faster healing result is due to the toothpaste. i reccommend trying it out jus to see if it works for u.   my fellow cold sore sufferers Comments By: mike on 2010-01-04 So as a cold sore sufferer for my whole life I know how bad they suck. I used to get them all the time but my body is slowly growing out of them. I have found a great technique that works for me and hopefully for you. As soon as you wake up and feel it coming ice it right away. Then proceed to take 1000 MG of L-Lysine (you can find this at a local GNC for around $12) Take the lysine three different times through out the day at 500-1000 MG of it. Then take toothpaste and salt mix it together and apply it on the cold sore(s) leave it on until it drys then wash it off and put on a cream such as neo sporin. Before you go to bed put the tooth paste and salt back on the cold sore(s). Wake up and repeat the process. Depending on how big they are the cold sores should start to heal within 2- 3 days and the scabs should be gone within the 4-5 day. Goo d luck!   Unlucky Comments By: Andrew on 2010-01-07 So I put the tooth paste round my mouth...and IT BURNED!!! Stopped the pain of the coldsore for about 10 mins but now that horrible tingle has come back :( But it somehow doesn't feel as bad as before so it might of worked a bit. Not sure on this one. But it definetly hurts when you first put the toothpaste on it!!!   ToothPaste! Comments By: Dominic on 2010-01-09 5 mins ago I tried the nail polish remover and it didn't appear to be working for me so i put on some toothpaste and it's been on a couple of mins now and it is cooling and tingling toothpaste ftw!   Dam Comments By: OB on 2010-01-12 Wish i saw this earlier. next time I'll use toothpaste but right now im using salt. I hope this is just as affective   Toothpast and salt Comments By: Kayla on 2010-01-13 OWWW gawwd my cold sore hurts like a bitch! its obv not working for me,,,   my mother licks them and says it works Comments By: we're only Human on 2010-01-19 Just keep your tongue on it a lot, ha. looks silly, i bet. She uesed to give us kisses when we were young and she had cold sores, so I'll say she did it to me. ha. I put toothpaste on mine, and then googled it. hopeing i did the right thing. I think the old tube of myHeala is expired or something. Whatever, shouldn't stress out about it. At least i can stay home(van is broke down, anyways.) I remember in HS, i felt like a Herpe infected person. It's a different type of herpes, anyways, different than what you can get down there, which I never came across, thank goodness. Maybe being pregnant is stressing me out, or maybe the lack of excercise I'm getting lately. It is Winter and I do have 9 kids ha. Some of the Seniors need to work on communicating with their words, It was a long read to the bottom. Take care.   burning so far ! Comments By: Hannah on 2010-01-31 i read everyones comment to see if it actually works , and i put some on and it is burning . is this normal ?   Reality read this Comments By: biotch hunter on 2010-02-05 I beg to differ about your comment regarding toothpaste not working and the pharmacueticals snapping it up if it did. They wouldn't even go there. Toothpaste is basically an inexpensive over the counter privilege already allowed the consumer that the big drug companies have no control over. The toothpaste treatment, if proven viable, would knock all their more expensive treatments, like Abreva, out of the ballpark. Since there is probably no way they could harness the existing resource and make us pay way more than what we already do, they would probably not do any studies in that direction. BTW--I am 53, just tried a toothpaste remedy I pulled up online last night, using lemon extract instead of alcohol before applying the toothpaste.The extract is more soothing on my lips than the alcohol yet has the same drying properties. At any rate-- I can see an accelerated scabbing process and am thinking one more night and it will be advanced about 5 days over the time it normally takes it to heal. I plan on following up the treatments with plain old chapstick to fight any dryness from the extract and toothpaste treatments. I learned a long time ago--home made remedies can sometimes trump what is available in the drugstore. For instance--last year I had a run in with poison oak. I tried everything to get rid of it and the itching. I had relied on Technu to clean it off in the beginning and apparently, I did not put enough gallons of it on after the exposure(and I washed about 2hrs after contact, so that part is bogus, too), because I ended up with a horrid case. I ended up taking the advice of a forestry employee who is out in it all day. He said to prevent future episodes if I know I am going to be around the plant,about two weeks before--get a box of pectin (the type used for fruit canning) and mix about 2 tblsns into 8oz of OJ and drink every day until the box is empty. He said he has done this for years and can now actually pull the plant right out of the ground and not be affected. Since I already had a bad case of it, he told me to use a cold water salt scrub with dawn dishwashing liquid.I made a paste by pouring the dawn over the blisters and then adding the salt over the top and scrubbing it in with the water running the whole time over my arm where the blisters were. It does sting,but afterward, the itching is totally gone. He said to be sure to get all the soap off and then pat the area dry and make sure it is dry. Do not rub--pat dry. My poison oak, which had formed massive blisters and itched like crazy, was immediately relieved of itchiness and dried up and gone in about half the time it normally takes. So--what I am trying to say here is--don't discount wives tales and homemade remedies in favor of what is being invented strictly to pad the already bulging pockets of pharmacuetical companies. I definitely don't think they have all the answers and maybe they really don't want to. If they found a way to prevent cold sores, what would they sell us besides that one thing? This way, they can sell us all sorts of things that don't work. Do approach any home treatment, like the ones I listed above, with extreme caution. I would patch test anything I was putting on my skin. People can be highly allergic to just about anything.   this actuallly works, white toothpaste. Comments By: ricardo on 2010-02-07 yesterday(now 2 days ago) i had my first ever coldsore, it was big and white, disgusting. my mum said use toothpaste, and i applyed some AIM original flavour white toothpaste on it and left it all day and night and, woke up and then i washed it and it came off, i was amazed.barely noticible now, try it it works. i guaranteed.   Toothpaste does not work. Comments By: elif on 2010-02-10 I tryed toothpaste and salt before i slept but this morning when woke up it didnt heal. :(. Am going to try blistex cream, Which helped my aunty. So i hope it workes.   toothpaste numbs it! Comments By: SEBBY on 2010-02-15 i put crest on it and i can feel the numbing already!   tooth paste and HOW Comments By: Morgan on 2010-02-21 Keep in mind every remedy won't work for every person because we are all different. I get cold sores once every 3-6 months and normally they last for 5 days.. the first sign of a cold sore i put toothpaste on my lip (like lip balm) and then a numbling liquid (so i dont feel pain) before bed.. i got a cold sore yesterday morning and it is literally non existant at this time, no pain no scab no nothing. good luck!   it works well Comments By: samm :]]] on 2010-02-27 I've had my cold sore for about a week. I woke up to the nasty tingling feeling and i bit down on my lip in hope that it was a pimple and biting it would pop it to relieve the pain. but it only got worse. it is huge and open, the skin is trying to heal over it but keeps pealing off and giving me more pain as a result. i put the toothpaste on about 20 minutes to a half an hour ago. my mom told me its a good solution and i'm suprised at how much it has dried up. thanks for the help!   omg !! Comments By: Rosiee on 2010-03-09 ohhh my god !! i put thee toothpast on it O: wow it burnss >.< likee badd !! i got it result of using my pals lippy , NEVERR AGAINN !! i hatee these thingss >:( why mee ?? grrrrrrr >:( >:( >:(   Its UGLY Comments By: Can. on 2010-03-18 Woke up this morning with a a small red spot and a small blister in the middle of it. I immediately tried the Bleach and wet Qtip trick whom some people rave about, That DID NOT Work. The blister popped but more developed and they're now double the size if not triple I've tried all sorts of topical solutions in the past including abreva but they Dont seem to work for me. I'm now using the Salt paste technique, it burns, tingles and my lip is pulsing. I don't know if its actually doing something to make it better or if its getting worst. After this 1st salt treatment, I"m going to try it again with Epson Salt... I'll keep you posted.   Its UGLY _Follow Up Comments By: Can on 2010-03-23 Well the epson salt did not do much, the soar followed its natural course. its been 5 days now and the scab is starting to fall off. The only thing I haven't tried is Toothpaste so when it happens again that will be my next option. Take care and thanks for the comments   nasty lil boogers! Comments By: Dillan on 2010-03-25 I'm trying this whole toothpaste thing for the first time soo hope it works. But for people that constantly get them, I usually take a prescribed drug called acyclovir when I know I'll be in the sun for a long amount of time. I must say it usually is effective.   HATE COLD SORES ... HELP ! Comments By: Jade on 2010-03-31 Well Ive Woke Up With 2 MASSIVE cold Sores :(( There SOoooo UGLY , && My Lips all Swelled Up Tooo .. I Just Want Them To F**K Off . ive been asda and bought creams t.c.p but its not gone down .. im going to try the toothpaist and salt methord , seems alot of people say its great , just sick to death of it i dont wanna go work or out the house haha! its really itchy and i just wanna scrath it off HELPPP !!!   TOOTHPASTRE REALLLY WORKS!! Comments By: jess on 2010-04-02 ok wen i get cold sores they come in big groups like all over my lips its so embarrassing so i tried toothpaste with salt and it works. i leave it on for liek half an hour during the day then all night wen i go to bed dries up nd goes quickly!!   Doesn't work at all Comments By: Michelle on 2010-04-06 I tried the toothpaste and salt combo last night, and it did was make my lip swell. It dried it out a little, but not over night like everyone claims. I'm going back to Orajel.   Abreva didn't work. Trying toothpaste now Comments By: Rich on 2010-04-11 So right when I felt the tingle stage I went out and bought abreva which is expensive as hell. It's been 5 days since I got the nasty cold sore. First thing I did was ice it. I get cold sores about once every 6 months. Icing for me does make the cold sore stop in it's track. Day 6 and I still have the nasty crust looking thing and it doesn't help when it cracks.. So now I'm trying toothpaste.. Hope u guys are right about it cause I want it to go away now!!!!!   Almost ready to go out Comments By: sissy on 2010-04-10 damn the Toothpaste reaally works. i used da gel kind! i also used salt ,alcohol,perioxide....... it is making it white like it is healing it now im back to da salt lettin it sit on there 15 min. next it will be salt and toothpaste. it really is minimizing da little bumps   COLD SORE & PIERCINGS. Comments By: micky!! on 2010-04-13 you all think you've got it bad. i have a cold sored around 3 OF MY PIERCINGS. i am in hell. so far ive been using TEA TREE OIL, ALOE VERA, AND NOW TOOTH PASTE. the tooth paste seems to be going alright. and so have the rest, ive been cleaning it with the tea tree oil, then applying the Aloe vera, and then i came acorss this site and im sitting here with the tooth paste lol. so ill update tomorro and see the resaults (: <3   what now ?? Comments By: anon on 2010-04-15 This is the first time iv had a cold sore i used toothpaste and salt it made a tiny hole in the cold sore guncky stuff came out then stated to bleed then more gunck came out is that normal???   Great healthy advice: Don't listen to anyone on here! Comments By: Sarah on 2010-04-21 Guys! Listen to me....please do not pop your cold sores! Pus in ANYTHING means infection. Therefore, when you pop a cold sore, which is full of tiny pustules of infection, all you are doing is spreading the virus! This also slows down healing time because you are creating scabs. Salt and toothpaste are incredibly drying and damaging to the skin around the sore and increase the chances of getting another outbreak. Go to the doctor, get a prescription for Valtrex, and apply Abreva or Zovirax every few minutes. Apply ice to reduce swelling and take Lysine supplements 1000mg every few hours. Mint teabags are also healing but make sure they are not too hot. Please do not burn your lips in an effort to get rid of a cold sore. I have been getting cold sores for years! When I was younger and very impatient I tried all of the "quick fix" remedies and they prolonged the healing process. Now, I care for them in a much healthier way and I have reduced my outbreaks to one or two a year at most. Stay away from sugar and use SPF 30 when outside. Please do not do harmful risky things to your face!   It didnt work for me. Comments By: gracie on 2010-04-20 I left the mixture on my cold sore for an hour and endured the stinging pain of the salt..sadly it did nothing :( my cold sore looked the same.. i am trying just plain toothpaste now and hoping so much that it works..i took the day off school today cause i was so self conscious about it. does anyone else have any ideas on what i can do without going out and purchasing anything??   !!! Comments By: Amber on 2010-04-28 ive got a huge one now, and i just pulled the scab off and put toothpaste on it, its stinging loads!! but stinging it a good sign usually   Depends on the stage Comments By: CavsCassie on 2010-04-27 I have had cold sores my whole life, as a figure skater dry cold chappy lips were common in my world. I see everyone here has many effective remedies but I think its important that you are educated on the type of cold sore and the stage its in before you can decide what works and what doesn't Abreva works for me if I catch it in the itchy tingly stage before any bump appears, but if there's already a bump it's too late. Also I see a lot of people saying there's are big and white... well mine never are.. mine almost look clear when you examine it carefully. At this point its important not to touch it otherwise it will get bigger and if you you take a pin to it too soon you will get a bunch of little ones. I read someone referred to them as baby sores. That's why in this stage the only thing I'll touch it with is Ice. I Ice it for a bit and don't worry about the water from the ice cube, I know I did the first time i used the cube method. make sure not to pop it just gently Ice it. After Icing it put just plain white colgate toothpaste on it a big dab on it. let that sit for hours or overnight when you wipe the toothpaste off it should be less swollen and should not have gotten any bigger. At this stage its still a bump and if I take a pin to it at all which I typically don't I'll do it now 1 gentle poke and a bunch of dabs with a napkin. sterilize the area through some salt water on it and it should be totally flat put some toothpaste on it while you get ready and it should already look significantly better. you'll get through the whole day without it looking like anything. over the next night it will probably scab up. TRY not to pick at it.. even when it looks bad remember picking only elongates the healing process. Let there be a scab for a day rather than a picked at gooey film because you can't handle a scab! This whole process cuts everything down. if your putting salt and toothpaste on it when its already an open wound... its gonna burn like hell! Take Lysine every other day or especially when your stressed sleep deprived or traveling and you'll eliminate the risk of even getting one at all! Hope I helped a little Best of luck fellow lepers (I know that's how I feel when I get one :( It's good to know your out there and not judging haha)   my bad days Comments By: soregirl on 2010-04-27 toothpaste does work n i am not some paid advertisement person i had cold sores since i was a kid n it burns like shit but it dries it out i know i rather it flat and dried out then puffy and pus filled try it and your not alone i know its embarrassing i only had one sexual partner so far and i though because i have a cold sore that i have a std not the case i suggest that you guys do your research and again your not alone   help!!! Comments By: Anon on 2010-05-06 I have had the cold sore since monday and it is almost gone I think. I have the scab now, and it looks wicked gross. I need to get rid of the scab TODAY because I have no choice, but to go to work tomorrow!!! ANY IDEAS????   Its Ugly_round 2 Comments By: Can.. on 2010-05-03 OK, here I am again 2 months later I wake up with another one, first think I did was melt 2 ice cubes in it to stop the swelling, Next, I make a Toothpaste and Salt mixture and put it on the soar, I left it there for about 3 hours. I noticed that it felt cooler but that's about it. when I pealed off the toothpaste I noticed the soar got bigger and so did the blisters. Needless to say the toothpaste method didn't work for me. I'm desperate now so what I've done despite what some people here might have said, I've dabbed a Qtip in Bleach (UN-diluted) and held it to the soar for about 1 minute. it began to burn and tingle even after I removed the Qtip. Apparently the blisters popped and the bleach was bleach was tingling and burning inside the open blisters. SO far, I've melted another 2 ice cubes on the soar and put a drop of hand sterilizer on it. I'll keep you posted on my results   Its Ugly_round 2 Comments By: Can.. on 2010-05-04 Its Ugly_round 2, OK, here I am again 2 months later I wake up with another one, first thing I did was melt 2 ice-cubes on it to stop the swelling, next, I make a Toothpaste and Salt mixture and put it on the soar, I left it there for about 3 hours. I noticed that it felt cooler, but that's about it. when I pealed off the toothpaste I noticed the soar got bigger and the so did the blisters. Needless to say the toothpaste method didn't work for me. Now I'm desperate now so despite what some people here might have said, I've dabbed a Qtip in Bleach (un-diluted) and held it to the soar for about 1 minute. it began to burn and tingle even after I removed the Qtip. Apparently the blisters popped and the bleach was bleach was tingling and burning inside the open blisters. I melted another 2 ice cubes on the soar and put a drop hand sanitizer, I'll keep you guys posted on my results.   ok but this is better Comments By: the virus killer on 2010-05-07 surgical spirit on a cotton bud, hold it on for at least 30 secs or as long as u can(its stings)at any stage. you can watch it dry up and reduce after 1 treatment. tried everythiogn else THIS WORKS fast. repeat 3,4 times a day.   Toothpaste Works! Comments By: joe blow on 2010-05-14 I tried toothpaste on the 2-3 cold sores that popped up yesterday and this morning they are dried up, smaller, and less noticeable. GREAT TIP!   I hear ya Comments By: Renee on 2010-05-18 Listen, When you apply the tooth paste,do it with a q tip. But use a different q tip for each cold sore. You don't want more to spread. Cold sores are very contagious. And wash your hands a lot - until they fall off (lol).   WOW! Comments By: Angel on 2010-05-23 im 14 and I woke up yesturday with a thing on my lip and this morning it didnt seem all that but now its just annoying i tryed that toothpaste n salt and it burns a little not to much but burns in a good way i guess THANKS FOR THIS TIP HOPE IT WORKS!!!   Good timing Comments By: Tina on 2010-05-26 Typically after 4 months of organising. I have a school reunion in 3 days. And guess what happens today.. a coldsore!! Haven't had one for a while and of all times, I get one now. I have applied the toothpaste today. I hope I am not too late. I felt the tingle when getting out of bed this morning. I feel the hotness of the paste on my sore, but not sure if it will do anything. But when you are desperate, you try these things.   It really works Comments By: Tina on 2010-05-27 Well it's the day after I tried the toothpaste. I will admit I also applied a cold compress against my coldsore aswell and combining the two, I can honestly say it works magic. My coldsore has not come up alot and don't look agressive atall It's really small. With abit of makeup, I don't think anyone will notice at the reunion. I am happy with the results. My tip is,.. apply an ice cube on your sore every 10 minute for an hour and after apply some toothpaste and let it dry on it. This way, you are freezing the coldsore which stops the full outbreak and you are drying it out with the toothpaste after.   i hate the things. Comments By: Mas on 2010-06-10 I normally get about 3 a year :( ive got two at the moment. this is my 3 steps i have just started trying to get away the sores. apply alcohol. hold on for 15 apply hot tea bag for 15 minutes. then put a tiny spark of salt. and before i sleep i put abreva on. i am trying tooth paste now :) best of luk fr the rest of you people :)   TRYING IT NOW! Comments By: Mikayla on 2010-06-17 i mixed some salt with some toothpaste, and its been on there for about 5 minutes now!!! i hope it works because it sben burniiing!!D: i hav 3 cold sores they suck!   **** DONE! **** Comments By: mikayla on 2010-06-17 Well i cannot say it did much for me yet! I might not have followed the directions well xD LMFAO well im 12 and i have those two cold sores on my lips and on the crack of my lips! EW D: and i used this toothpaste and salt thing! and mixed them and put them on my cold sores!! i have to say i left them on there for about 15 minutes and took the toothpaste off with watter and there less red and they feel much better but the burning will stop later and the tingling too!!!! GOODLUCK! XXXXXX bye peoplz   More at home solutions! Read this! Amazing! Comments By: Anna on 2010-06-17 Read this for More at home solutions, I guarantee that will keep those cold sores away, for good. I've been wasting my money on Ways to cure cold sores, and get them right from the source. No one wants big red spots on there lips! There unattractive, and they attract a lot of attention, I have to say. I've been using the toothpaste and salt mix solution for years, and it worked okay for me, but it didn't really do what its supposed to do. I would leave the toothpaste and salt mixture, on my cold sores over night while I'm going to sleep. From that many hours of good rest I got while that toothpaste is supposed to be drying up that cold sore, it didn't really impress me much. So I did soon enough, I got tired of these cold sores coming back, and never letting me go one time to church without a big red on in the corner of my mouth. And i decided to do something about it. Since I wasn't planning on spending any more money, wasted on solutions that never seem to make a difference in healing my cold sores, I eventually sat down on my computer, and did a little google searching. Later on, after looking through some websites, solutions, and answers, I found this amazing website that at first I thought wasn't going to help. It worked like a miracle. I followed the directions carefully, making sure I did all the short steps right. And the next morning, that cold sore was gone for good. It's been 9 weeks since I've gotten a cold sore, and usually I get them around every 3 weeks or so, which was driving me insane! Try this, And i guarantee you, you'll never have to waste you're money on horrible products for removing these red spots, that doesn't work again! Follow the steps, and it will be gone in the morning, with a flash. It works like a charm, for only 10 simple steps! 1.Soak a cotton ball in rubbing alcohol, and gently place it on the cold sore for 2-3 minutes. 2.Dry the cold sore with napkin, or paper towel. 4.Mix toothpaste with salt, and lightly coat onto cold sore for 1-2 minutes. 5.Rinse the toothpaste off with warm water, Dab, DO NOT rub. 6.Place one salt sparkle on the center of the cold sore, for 30 seconds tops. 7.Do not rinse. 8.Dab the cold sore with peanut butter, leave on there for 1-2 minutes. 9.Use a dry napkin to dab the peanut butter that was on the top of the cold sore. 10.Gently place more peanut butter on the coldsore but dab to extra, like you would lipstick. Make sure you didnt all of these directions firmly, and you're done! Was'nt that easy? Contact me, and tell me how my stepts worked out for you! I'm going to spread this method around, hopefully other people will try it and be glad with there results. -Anna.   An Idea Comments By: hwestbrook on 2010-06-21 I use to get huge cold sores on my chin and they would come and go rather frequently. The chin had to be one of the worse places to get one since everything and anything touches it. So, what i did was using a clean needle. I soaked it in hydrogen peroxide along with a couple Q-tips. I popped each blister and immediately placed a Q-Tip on it. Also keep a peice of toliet paper by to stop any dripping. Do each one individually. Leave it alone by check for any drainage. You can either leave it be or put toothpaste on it. I have never had one on my chin since. Not saying its a cure but it worked very, very well for me.   salt has positive results Comments By: nadine on 2010-06-22 i haven't tried toothpaste yet, but i found salt decreased the swelling of my cold sore very quickly. the burning sensation can get pretty intense, but stand it as long as you possibly can. and repeat the process of applying salt as many times a day as you can. always follow up with high quality soothing lip lotion to help sooth your lips.   omg Comments By: wes on 2010-06-23 I have had this for like 2 weeks now and i have had abreeva and salt and ice and nothing works the toothpaste i could feel it sucking out the virus...but you know >.< it didnt work as fast as it said. i dont know what to do now :L   salt on cold sores works Comments By: matt on 2010-06-29 I have been putting salt on my cold sores of ten years or more. You have to break them open so the salt can drain the liquid. You will see the salt drawing the liquid from the sore immediately. It hurts like hell but right after you will forget you even have a cold sore for hours. Once it starts bothering you again salt it again. I usually get mine early and it goes away in one or two treatments.   does it.. Comments By: Shufflerdude562:D on 2010-06-29 i tried this method and it started tingling and also felt it cooling down but does this method really work overnight? answer this asap please(:   D': OUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Comments By: strangerrrrrrr on 2010-06-29 okkk. i have thizz STUPID cold sore, it. hurts. so. BAD!! i cant eat, i cant drink, i can barley talk, its making me crabby. like someone would say "what?" & it would hurt to bad i wouldnt want to talk so i would be like "NVM!!" at random points i burst into tears because it hurts. i want this DONE. im gonna put the toothpaste on, i will tell u if it works. i hope it doesnt sting so bad....... :((   healed in 4 days barely visible Comments By: Ray on 2010-07-05 Ok I saw this and said fine. I'll try it, Ive tried everything from otc to nail polish <- horrible idea, never try nail polish,so this is what i did, 1. Early treatment is KEY, if you woke up with a huge sore that opened the night before, your basically screwed, so just take a deep breath and realize its not the end of the world. Try it out but dont expect some sort of miracle to happen. Also this is a relatively easy procedure, dont do anything crazy like some of the other tips in here, your only going to end up damaging your skin. 2. Stress only makes it worse, understand that sometimes monsters will happen, so my state of mind is, I feel the tingle, lets try some early treatments. If its too late than its too late. I literally try to find the most relaxed state of mind possible. 3. Ok Im an art student so i always have clean number 11 blades on me, their the little blades that come in exacto knifes. these are literally the best to poke the sores and drain the liquid, the tip is insanely sharp, so please take all the precaution in the world. If you dont have any, grab a needle from the pharmacy. This step is key, you just make the smallest little cut on the individual little yellow fluid filled sores, and put pressure to drain them. Since your draining them and not popping them, healing time goes down by days. Remember to use sterile equipment. and this is very important, you're not trying to kill it, all your doing is breaking the surface to drain it 4. Once they are drained, clean up and make the tooth paste mix. Remember to use the white one, i used Colgate, I literally put a 1 to 1 ratio for the salt. Please be very careful here, don't get the paste with your fingers, you don't want to infect other people. 5. I left it their for about 30 minutes, than i would clean, and reapply for another 30, than i cleaned and reapplied for when i was sleeping. I actually thought the paste was more soothing than tingling, and the mint is almost refreshing, hahaha. 6. In the morning i took a shower and applied it once more but by that time, lets be honest, either it worked or it turned into herpzilla. 7. It wasn't even noticeable, how can I tell, I could be delusional right,I mean I did tell you calm down, even though you have school/ work/ wedding tomorrow. Well that day i went out, and my friends were talking about herpes, they were all delusional on what it is, they thought you can get it even without an outbreak, I mean lets be honest, they were four of them, 80 percent of people has herpes, so a couple them already have it, they didn't know that most people that have it, never get an outbreak in their lives, lucky bastards, they even asked me if i knew people with herpes, I was going to tell them and set them straight, but i didn't even wanna bother, I was like yeah some kids in school use to get em all the time, and changed the subject. *these people are my good friends, they wouldn't do that to mock me, no one knew the whole time. After that, i didnt even bother to reapply at night cause, it was so small, Ive gotten pimples bigger than it on my lips. Good Luck and im sure you'll make it out of this one alive :) and one more thing, i get them like 3 to 5 a year, some years I don't even get one. Heres some more tips *Try to avoid peanuts *Exercise and eating right *Try not to get too stressed out *My number one culprit is the sun, always use sunblock and lip balm   Hoping this will work!! Comments By: Breezyannie on 2010-07-07 My first time getting a coldsore..Hope this thing works... i feel it tingling already. Cross fingers :(   Fluoride Comments By: HighDez on 2010-07-09 It's the fluoride. It's why Medavir has come up with a fluoride topical you can get online. I get cold sores maybe once a year. Te fluoride has stopped the sores from increasing in size, and sped up the healing time.   Tried this and... Comments By: crystal on 2010-07-10 It works! Okay, I hardly get cold sores this is my first one in 5 yrs. Usually when I get them they are HUGE AND UGLY, but this time I caught this one in time to ice it. Even so, it sprung up on the corner of my mouth and looked awful. So I decided to research and came up with ALOT of results. First I tried the salt and toothpaste it made the swelling reduce but it wasnt good enough for me. Then I decided to put all the research I came across and make a mixture. I added salt,garlic power,peroxide,toothpaste( with added baking soda and perxiode kind), honey, nail polish remover(just a little to help dry the area),and aloe gel. I added a little on my lip and kept it on the whole day. When I first started it was in the blister stage now its in the crust/ scabbing stage all in a matter of hrs! I did this all with out popping it, I was too scared of spreading the virus to anywhere else on my lip.   yes yea yes Comments By: devaughn on 2010-07-13 belive it or not dis really works iv only had the mixture on for about 3 hours n i looked n it is already starting to dry up........thanx every 1!!!!!   I Need Help. Comments By: Tommy on 2010-07-15 So basically on haloween i made out with this girl who is kind of a huge hoe. She gave me this shit. I need to get rid of it, it is so depressing. I feel like life is on hold. I use CamphoPhenique, moisturizer after that. abreeva sometimes, and hydro peroxide and arm and hammer baking soda tooth paste, it works okay but how do i get them to heal well. it is hard not to pick at them too. I get about 1 to two at a time and then those stress me and i get a third.   SOS Comments By: stupidsore on 2010-07-20 Okay so my life is OVER. I get cold sores about once or twice a year around the same time. WTF does that mean? Are these evil mothers, subject to weather change?? Anyway, so generally i just keep wiping them with alcohol swabs, however right now i have toothpaste on. Too lazy to get the salt but iwill in a bit. hope this works. my new cute boyfriend will be completely disgusted. :S   fingers crossed.....i miss ma clean lips Comments By: gooddays on 2010-07-21 hey i got cold soar 5 days ago n i never had it b4 so the Dr told me just to leave it but i ask another Dr n gave me fucidin its antibiotic but it didn't work @ ol so now i hear about toothpaste on internate so i just put it but waw it burns....seems like its working anyways fingers crossed 4 tomorrow i need my clean lips.those ugly coldsoars sucks!...n i'll post the update wethere it works or not.........   THIS REGIME REALLY WORKS Comments By: Dawn on 2010-07-28 I have been suffering with cold sores for as long as i can remember...Over the years they have gotten to be more frequent...Im talking 2x a month, which in reality, i always have one on my lip...Crazy!! I think I found the cure (at least minimizing the stay to 3 days)...When I first feel the tingle, I immediatey take two Valtrex and rub with releeve....then when I see the "blister" has formed...And, this hurts,,,I pop it. This obviously releases the "whatever it is"and it draines. That night, before bed I mix a combination of toothpaste with salt (alot of salt) this makes a gritty thick paste....put it on the sore...When you wake up, its dried completely out and just leaves a red mark..then I continue with "releeve" and moisturizer...its gone in three days...Try it....It works....Combination of drugs and home remedy   COLD SORE Comments By: KIA on 2010-07-29 TEA TREE OIL REALLYT WORKS AND I WISHED I HAD SOME SO I AM USING TOOTHPASTE..!!! THIS COLD SORE JUST POPPED OUT OF NO WHERE..!!! BUT PPL TO AVOID IT HAVE MORE BCOMLPLEX SUPPLEMENTS..VITAMIN C AND GET MORE SPLEEP..LESS STRESS...LESS EXPOSURE TO SUN OR USE @ LEAST LIP BALM WITH 15 SPF....SIIGHH IT WRKS..!!   salt works! Comments By: Anon on 2010-08-10 I've had sores since I was about 10. Usually when I feel a sore coming, I dab it with Zovirax (prescription ointment) and it stops it right there. This time I wasn't so lucky, as the tingling hit me at work where I didn't have any supply. I get sores REALLY badly. I have 2 clusters on my lip for a total of almost 50 sores. :( :( I stayed home from work today to look for a miracle. The salt TOTALLY worked. This morning my sores were super swollen. I crushed regular white table salt, dipped a Qtip into it, and held it in place against the sores for a very long time (~5mins). I left the salt in place, then dabbed toothpaste over it and left it on for about an hour. I washed it with vinegar, then applied Neutrogena's "rapid clear sore pimple gel." A couple of hours later i did the same regime with the salt/toothpaste/vinegar and the swelling is almost gone & I see scabs forming. Not sure which part of this routine worked, but I tried this combo from a plethora of user reviews. I hope this works for you! My heart totally goes out to all cold sore sufferers.   i rather have a pimple then a coldsore Comments By: kor'ri doll on 2010-08-11 okay i have been getting cold sores for almost all my life but like two days ago i felt a tingle on my lip and sure enough it was a freakin coldsore jus sittin there on my lip i got it becuz i couldnt find my blistex and my lips were dry so i use my 2 yrs old target lip balm which gave me a cold sore i threw it right away so as of now im sitting here with toothpaste and salt on my lip where the cold sore is living and its tingle and i had it on bout a hour i'm leaving it on forever until its time for me go outside oh and now my swelling has gone down yesss so hopefully this works yessssssssssssss   cold sore oh nooo what should i do Comments By: sammy on 2010-08-19 okk so imm going to the justin bieber concert soon and i really need this to go away and iv tryed all most every thing toothpaste and salt im trying right now but im not sure if its working help me i want it to go a way soo bad   toothpaste is great! Comments By: rachel:) on 2010-08-25 so ive been getting cold sores since 3rd grade (im now a soph in highschool) and been using abreva and carmex or bag balm. i got a cold sore this morning because my lips got all sunburned and chappy from soccer practice in the blazin' heat, so i layered abreva on FIRST THING in the morning about 5 times in 20-30 minutes, then got on here and read about the toothpaste method. so i mixed together some of my moms baking soda (arm&hammer) toothpaste because mine is whitening and i dont want a white spot on my face. then put it in a little bowl. then got some table salt in a napkin and tried to crush it with the back of a spoon but it was already fine granules. then i mixed ALL of the salt (about 1 teaspoon or so) with the toothpaste (about a tablespoon) with the handle of a spoon, then globbed it generously on the cold sore on my top lip. left it on there for about 45 minutes, then went to the bathroom and wiped it off with TP (BAD IDEA, the toothpaste had dried and so it hurt to wipe off) then washed the area. the cold sore has gone down drastically! i couldn't see the little bubbly spots anymore. so after washing it i just put more abreva on it. i'll probably wind up doing this whole rigamorole 4 times before practice starts today.   Trying It Out... Comments By: Sienna on 2010-08-28 It's The Summer Holidays At The Moment And I've Really Been Trying To Recreate Myself For When I Return Back To School, I Was Completely Disgusted When I Found A Nasty Big Sore On My Upper Lip, Honestly, It Was So Ugly So I Completely Understand What Everyone Else Is Experiencing, I Think The Cause Of The Sore Was From Lack Of Sleep And Unhealthy Greasy Foods, So My Advice Would Probably Be To Steer Clear Of Eating A Little Too Much Junk Food And Maybe Make Nights A Little Earlier, I've Also Heard About The Salt And Toothpaste Treatment And I'm Trying It Out Right Now, School In A Few Days So LET'S Just Hope The Sore Goes!   Made it worse! Comments By: Anon on 2010-09-07 I woke up yesterday to find a fat ugly cold sore on my top lip, so i went on the internet to see how i could quickly get rid before i went back to school the next day. The toothpaste and salt remedy seemed to be the most popular so i tried that. Well, what a mistake! After leaving the thick paste on for around an hour i uncovered to see that it had made my cold sore grow and get worse! argghh!   thanks! Comments By: anon on 2010-09-15 thanks guys for the help! i'm in college and have pretty much no supplies to help with my cold sore, so I tried the only thing I could... toothpaste! seems like it's working, and it's great to have found a remedy besides something at the store!   not a difference Comments By: still ugly on 2010-10-05 I put a mixture of toothpaste and salt on my coldsore overnight and I woke up to the same huge cold sore I had fallen asleep to. Did not work even a tiny little bit.   Drying up Comments By: Kylie on 2010-10-17 Well, 4 days ago I started feeling a tingle on my lip, a lil bump came up but i really didn't think it would become a cold sore. So I forgot about it & went to bed. I woke up at about 3 AM and felt the bump on my lip and hurried and popped it & put ice on it. I HIGHLY recomend ice. It numbs the pain and freezes the virus. Also toothpaste is another good home remedy. I recomendpt it too. I HAATTEE cold sores! Been gettin them since I was 5 /:   why me Comments By: gatty on 2010-11-01 ok yesterday i happen to get a cold sore. Sooo gross. im gonna try thr toothpast hope it works. oh yeah its true that high priced stuff does not work? oh is it true that you can get cold sores from stress?   idk still Comments By: jade on 2010-11-01 im sure f its gonna works cause ive havnt done it yet but i dont know how long to keep it on ...how og for the tothpase??   Only Abreva Comments By: Anon on 2010-11-01 I always get cold sores when I eat something salty and forget to drink a lot of water after. (this last time was tortilla chips). The only thing that works for me is putting on Abreva at the first sign of a tingle. If you do that, your coldsore is not likely to erupt. It will be small and not noticeable. Maybe toothpaste works, but i would highly advise AGAINST SALT. (that's the only reason i get them in the first place)   only time can tell Comments By: Jennifer on 2010-11-03 I put toothpaste and salt on my cold sore, and im laying in bed, and all i can feel is tingling, and the feeling of it penetrating the sore :) i iced it before, also for about an hour before putting toothpaste on it. we'll see in the morning how it is. hopefully it works, i have to go see my girlfriend on thursday! :|   it works Comments By: mr Paul on 2010-11-11 I used the toothpaste and it seems to be working however now my whole lip is dry. Iv only been puting it on when i go to bed and my lips stay dry all day. then whene i eat fiood they feel weird. at least the cold sore seems to be going away though. any ideas on my lips   trying it now Comments By: lou lou on 2010-11-21 i've got a cold sore, and to be honest i hate it, so i tried some things that i bought that would help it but they didnt, so i tried the tooth paste and i can feel it stinging and taking the shizz in my cold sore away :)   I think it's working :3 Comments By: Jen on 2010-11-21 Just put a load on, dabbed toothpaste on and then mixed salt with a tiny bit of water then put THAT on top too. Stings. Like. Hell. My cold sores are usually rare and heal up within about a week (someone up there loves me) but I need this thing gone for Saturday, so I'm doing anything to speed up the process! Also, my cold sore just tingled. Not sure if I ought to be concerned, but at least something's happening! o: Let's hope it's dying n_n!   hi Comments By: stella on 2010-11-30 trying it right now and if it works i love you!!!!!!! but if not gotta keep trying to get ride of it   lala Comments By: stella on 2010-11-30 yes!!!!! it works i dont give a damn what you other people have to say b/c everyones body is diffrent so not all remides will work for ur body. this worked for me and i love it!!! i regamend relaxing while u have it on b/c stress is the main reasson for these little bugers. have a nice cup of tea or lay in the tub for an hour do what u have to, to not get stressed out!!!   WORKS!!!! Comments By: Anonymous on 2010-12-08 This most definitely worked! Didn't get rid of it it one day but all the fluid is gone and it's scanning nicely lol. I'm on day 4 and it should be gone tomorrow. Of course for the next week and a half I will not kiss my bf or contaminate my cosmetics, (don't know how long it takes to completed heal and not be contagious) the salt really has cut down the length of the outbreak by less than half of it's normal duration, so this is good, abreva has never worked for me, it hurts using salt but I know it's working, also took Arbil for the swelling and put a hot tea bag on it the other night, and the tea stained my lips lol just stick to salt and Arbil and I'd say 6 days tops and it's gone, might depend on the severity of the outbreak, mine was at full peak when I decided to use the salt remedy.   Salt us your friend Comments By: Katyia on 2010-12-08 I ate tortilla chips the night before my outbreak and I ate a lot of em! Lol in the morning it had already formed, so I felt all depressed cuz it's been over a year since the last outbreak, I poked it with a needle to drain it, then applied salt, and it's taken 4 days so far and should be heeled by tomorrow. Abreva does not work for me at all! A salty diet may have caused this outbreak this time but I assure u that applying salt on the wound really cures, completely different effect than Shen u consume salt. Salt is our friend people!   SO FAR THE BEST Comments By: delailaathena on 2010-12-08 AM AWAYS LOOKING FOR ANYTHING THAT WOULD HELP ME TAKE CARE OF MY COLD SORE. GOT 2 I OF THEM MONDAY AND THEY HUGE AND BURNING. I JUST BOUGHT LICORIRE WHICH I READ IT SUPPOSE TO WORK WONDER ON THEM. LET YOU KNOW HOW IT WORKS BUT I COULDNT TAKE THE PAIN ANY MORE SO I TRY THE TOOTHPAST AND IT CALM IT DOWN. LET YOU KNOW HOW IT WORK LATER...   Awesome Comments By: Sabrina on 2010-12-18 I'm 16 years old and have grown up with cold sores on my lip almost atleast 3 to 4 times a year and this is the first thing that started working right away .This is amazing i put it on and i feel it working right way thanks   call the dr. Comments By: dambra on 2010-12-12 call the doctor when you feel the first signs of the ichy tingle feeling. Ask him about valtrex. take two and two more 12 hours later. The coresoar doesnt even come out. If you caught it to late then it might come out just alittle. I also ways these on hand. Im not one for medicine but these are a life saver. I tryed evrything but lets face it once it comes out it is out for 10 14 days and looks gross.   hope it works Comments By: treylyn on 2010-12-10 I hope this whole toothpaste thing works one of my friends told me about it and i had to do a little reasearch.. cant believe everything you hear   Coldsore Comments By: jc on 2010-12-11 I've have coldsores for a long time..they usually come near the most important days ever, and i hate it. i dread going out. The way i cure it is using "savex" a coldsore fever blister treatment. It works.one time i felt tingling and i knew a coldsore was sure to come, and savex stopped it. But this cold sore now was totally out of nowhere.I have them on my upper lip all the time and they usually last ust 5 days when i use savex. But heres my trick..i pop the juice out of my coldsore then dry it up, it cures straight afterwards, and its faster than just not touching it at all.   heres what i did Comments By: nikki on 2010-12-12 &okay so i gt a nasty cold sore on my lip thursday night. and i mean my lip was swollen. so first i did all tht ice thing. and i jus put zovirax on it over night but it wasnt helping since it was an already developed sore. so the next day i went with the tea bags tht kinda helped but not fast enough so i got desperate and did this toothpaste with salt thing. it started burning like hell! but i was desperate. so i kept it on fer about 45 min but it started melting kinda so i took it off with nail polish remover. when i saw it it look pretty badd. like bigger nd uglier so i was like damm it. & i put a tea bag on it (green tea) and it seemed to sooth it and it went down. seeing this result i deciede to do it in intervals. i did 30 min of tea then 30 min of the toothpaste with salt. soon enough like the 5th time i saw my cold sore dry! except for one lil blister. which i juss popped iun if tht was a great idea but i did it anyways. make sure to get all of it out (til you see blood) and then clean with nail polish remover & hydrogen peroxide) so after all this i applied the toothpaste shtff one more time nd left it on there for 2 hours. after tht i took it off and put zovirax on it after tht went away i cleaned it with hydrogen peroxide and put neosporin on it. now i juss clean it with hydrogen peroxide and dab some neosporin on it. its juss about gone away juss a lil scab is left and its sunday. so by tomarrow it should be completly healed! :) hope this helps ya   Toothpaste work Comments By: Carlos rod on 2010-12-17 I just put toothpaste and salt and it seems to be working   Wish people were more understanding... Comments By: Anon on 2010-12-19 I have been getting cold sores since I was born. They are humiliating and really hurt your self esteem. I am a 17 year old girl and going through a normal day of high school (where it's hard enough to fit in) is next to impossible when you're rocking a not-so-attractive cold sore on your lip. I got an outbreak at the worst time (how typical.) The boy I like who may just be my possible future boyfriend is home from college and is only going to be home for a couple of weeks and I won't even be able to spend that much of our limited time together with him because I'll be in hiding. :( It is so frustrating. I wish I could meet a guy that gets them too and understands that it's not that uncommon, and it's not like us lepers (yes, that's what it feels like) choose to get them... HOPEFULLY THE TOOTHPASTE WORKS. Wish me luck<3   now trying it! Comments By: Jass on 2010-12-20 i got cold sores just before i'm gonna get a cold, its horrible and i hate them. i only used creams that you can buy at the chemist and they dont seem to work, im only 16 and im embarrassed to leave the house with one. i really hope this works.   one cure!!!! Comments By: peter simmons on 2010-12-21 I've had cold sores my whole life and every time i've gotten one i desperatly search the internet for a new home remedy, reality is that a cold sore has its natural cycle, ABREVA really is the best medication, your cold sore will still go through its phazes but will be gone within 5 days. Also, keep your entire lips moisturized to avoid cracking and spreading. As said above, if toothpaste, salt, ice, teabags all cured cold sores, pharamceutical companies would be making millions off of it.   10 TIMES A YEAR Comments By: Sharelle on 2010-12-22 They always seem to come when a big event is coming... It is 2 days from christmas and one has popped up, I have been getting the virus since the age of 2 ! No cream or tooth paste or vinegar or none of that crap work TRUST ME ! The key is to relax, not think about it, DO NOT touch it, ice to numb it, ibprofen tablets (anti inflamitry) alcohol swabs and tea tree oil !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! trust me guys ! and keep washing your hands with antibacterical hand wash after every application.. let me know if this has helped.   THIS WORKS AND I AM NOT JOKING. Comments By: Miss F on 2010-12-26 Alright so as a fellow "cold-sore-getter" (I'm 20 and had my first one 3 days ago and I already feel like an expert) I felt it was my duty to share how I got rid of mine so fast! ...Or should I say how I am getting rid of mine so fast so I don't jinx myself! Haha, but really I was absolutely terrified because my mom gets them and she really doesn't do anything to help speed healing process she just suffers and I just can't do it! I couldn't go anywhere this Christmas (today is December 26th 2010) because I was so embarrassed and my boyfriend is so wonderful and felt terrible for me and brought me my presents in bed! (I was still embarrassed of course) Anyways this is what I did: December 24&25: Weaponry: Ice, Wet-Frozen Green Tea Bag (Note* Tea Bag makes sore a little brown but you can wash it off don't be a baby!), 6 1000 mg Lysine Pills a day, Herpecin L lip-balm, and eating only high Lysine foods Drank vodka cranberry the night before while I had a (somewhat) bad cold so if I did get any tingling sensation I was probably too inhibited to feel it shame on me :/ Woke up at my bf's with the tiny white bubbles on the left side of my upper-lip and immediately knew (all my family gets cold sores) it was a cold sore demon. After incessantly praying to God for relief I knew it was time to do some research and the 1st day, since the sore from hell was already forming I iced the sore directly with the ice cube and put a wet GREEN TEA tea bag in the freezer then rotated icing my lip with the plain ice and the frozen tea bag. This SERIOUSLY helped me to speed up the healing process. I did this both days non-stop and I know most people don't have time but I made the time I didn't go anywhere because of embarrassment and I really wanted it gone! I took 6 L-Lysine pills both days to speed up healing process as well because lysine is for your lips and it really helps prevent outbreaks from happening so I'm making this a DAILY SUPPLEMENT. Along with the constant icing, tea-bagging, and 6 Lysine pills a day I repeatedly applied the Herpecin L lip balm on my lips since it has essential vitamins and even MORE LYSINE that specifically helps cold sores. I believe all of this constant therapy + relaxation, sleep, hydration, and a high Lysine diet (which I googled) really helped bring me faster healing for the third morning aka today aka right now while I am typing. December 26: Weaponry: Q-tips, FLUORIDE Tooth-paste, Salt/Baking Soda mixed with a tiny bit of water, Hydrogen Peroxide if you have it for cleaning, and Herpecin L lip balm This morning I woke up and a small scab had already formed on the sore, which means it is healing. NOTE HERE THAT I DID NOT I REPEAT DID NOT POP, BURST, POKE, OR STAB THE SORE. That is the worst thing for it the infected liquid can ooze out and infect your entire mouth with the virus! Fight the temptation because touching it can also cause it to spread to other areas like down below potentially causing Genital Herpes. I first applied Fluoride Tooth-paste right on the sore with Q-tips. I left it for an hour then took another Q-tip with warm water and gently wiped the tooth-paste off. (Throw away Q-tips immediately never re-use) Right after tooth-paste removal, I took a mixture of salt and baking soda with a tiny bit of water and rubbed it on the sore with Q-tip. (This might burn a little but not long) I let it dry and crust for an hour then went back and washed it with warm water and Hydrogen Peroxide (helps clean and dry the scab out without you having to poke it) on Q-tip. I then reapplied the salt/baking soda/water mix on the sore then cleaning it with the warm water/hydrogen peroxide and I have been doing this repetition all day since the morning around 10:30 AM and it is now 4 PM and the sore is almost completely gone, just a little redness! I'm going to keep doing this till night just to be safe but THIS METHOD REALLY WORKS! And I want everyone to try it at least once to see because I know how you feel :) *I ALSO CONSTANTLY WASHED MY HANDS IN FEAR OF SPREADING IT TO OTHER PARTS OF MY BODY. OBSESSIVE, MAYBE BUT SAFE, YES!   Trying it now Comments By: Understanding on 2010-12-28 The toothpaste is tingling/burning, so I hope that means it's working. I've gotten cold sores a lot more frequently this year than usual.. Like, every two months. And I know, it sucks. I'm 16 and I know it's extremely embarrassing to be seen with one but we can't make this go away. The best thing to do is learn to deal with it and ignore it. During the day, occasionally clean the sore with alcohol to dry it up. Before going to bed, do the same thing. Eat well, drink a lot of water and avoid junk food. Also, sleep early. Cold sores tend to appear when our immune system is low. Good luck to you all!   Valtrex Comments By: Anon on 2010-12-30 The best thing for a cold sore is Valtrex. it is prescribed for herpes. If you take 4 at the first sign of the sore and then 4 more in 12 hours your cold sore will dry up. Any doctor will give you this prescription since it is a harmless drug. Always have a bottle handy so you can take it at the first sign of tingling.   Vineagar is the KILLER Comments By: Anon on 2011-01-08 Ok I know there are alot of options but this was the fastest for me. I took vineagar and put it in a bottle cap then soaked my cold sore in it this will kill the virus and make it go into the healing stage then I used carmex until it was completely gone. It tooked about 3 days. Good luck hope this helps you.   Does not work. 100 cold sores and counting Comments By: 100 cold sores and counting on 2011-01-17 I got two blisters side by side that converged into 1 big blister 3 days ago. I tried the salt method and the toothpaste method yesterday. It did not reduce the sore. Much to my horror, today I woke up with a third blister above the previous two blisters (which now is a soft scab). I have had cold sores for over 30 years with approximately 100 in my life time. I have tried everything and the only thing that works for me is Valtrex pills in combination with Zovirax cream, and that combination only works 50% of the time. When it works, it keeps the blister from forming and you never get the cold sore. When it doesn't work (like this time) it appears to do nothing for reduction of size or duration of the sore. Effectiveness all has to do with the timing of taking the medicine. This time the blister snuck up on me before I could take the medicine, so it did not work. If you have a tiny little cold sore, the methods on this site may help, but I am not willing to risk having more blisters spread while trying toothpaste and/or salt. If your cold sore is more than 1 blister, it would be unwise to try anything. By the way, I am in sales and have to entertain new clients in Las Vegas tomorrow at a high end restaurant. I am really looking forward to that with my alien friend attached to my lip. Oh well. Good luck to all! 100 and counting   Trying it Comments By: Haley on 2011-01-25 I just now put tooth paste on it, and i already feel it doing something, i love the cool feeling it has on it, makes it feel a lot better, and less irritating, and it definitely feels like it's doing something, i hope this works!   Blahh :/ Comments By: Anon on 2011-01-26 I get cold sores about once a year and i just got one today, 1/26/11, and i just did the toothpaste salt thing. Its cold and kinda tingly so hopefully it works. Cause i hate them and i don't want to get made fun of at school tomorrow.,   a soulotion for the sore revolution Comments By: hello world im 11 on 2011-02-01 (make sure you do this before you go to bed and have atleast 8 hours of sleep!)i made a diferent version that works!!(idk if it works for you but try it)pop you sore wash it out with anti bacterail soap and dry.get white tooth paste,salt and a plate. put the salt and a dab of paste on the soreplate mix it together and put the dab on your sore and go to bed in the morning was it off and its gona no more sore!!   this is BS Comments By: Anon on 2011-02-09 I just tried the toothpaste tip last night on my coldsore which had just appeared that day. I put a glob of it on before I went to bed and woke up with it fully developed and my lip swollen. It still hurts, but now I'm trying the Lysine, and it seems to be soothing it. Lysine has always worked for me, it just takes a couple of days and dries it up. I just wanted to try a remedy that would work in a night. I guess it didn't work.   Toothpaste is on..... Comments By: Kelly K. on 2011-02-12 TUESDAY NIGHT: i just got back from a Cancun trip and did not use sun protection on my lips (guessing that is where the cold sore came from)----got off the flight and BAM..Mr. Sore is on my lower lip (thankfully, i got it AFTER my wonderful vaca ha)..so i kept icing it...since i was super tired, i kind of went to bed without taking L-Lysine, putting abreva, etc etc... WEDNESDAY MORNING: COLD SORE is HUGE yikesss..went on google and here i am...keping using teabags..over and over again..it seemed to work and trust me i have used just about everythinggg....i also took plenty of Lysine and dabbed Campho on over and over again all day... THURSDAY AFTERNOON: about the same as wednesday FRIDAY MORNING: Cold sore is gone/scab is here......scab falls off (FML)--took more lysine, put neosporin, honey to fight the infection, vaseline so it won't dry out... SATURDAY MORNING: woke up with my scab bleeding a little....put a teabag for ten minutes and now i have tooth paste on it...it is burning but isnt too bad... hoping it worksss because its VALENTINES WEEKEND FMLLLLLLLLLLL haha... Will update in an hour or so... this sucks   Nnothing works Comments By: anon on 2011-02-27 i have tried everythin that you can name, as we speak i have a cold sore n i work in the am and im tryin to dry it up with salt but its burning like hell. to be honest i dont think anythin works, you just gotta let it go away on its own which takes about a week or so.   Caneston Comments By: Gethy on 2011-03-02 I know this sounds weird but if you use caneston cream( the blue one works the best) from the tingly stage about 5 times a day your coldsore won't even develope. It also helps kill the coldsore pretty fast once it's developed :-)   dang Comments By: marcus on 2011-03-03 ahhh im seeing my girlfriend tomorrow and i have a noticeable ass cold sore ohh no, im tryin the toothpaste thing i pray it works.   Hate them!!!! Comments By: FixieJeff on 2011-03-11 Try this at first sign of it wash your hands then wash the cold sore with sope get a shirt, wet part of it with hot water the hotter the better, then wipe the cold sore, yes it's going to hurt but f-ck it. Then put whatever treatment you want on it.   Done with Cold Sores Comments By: Adam on 2011-03-07 Ever since I was 5 I got them!!!! I only did a thick thing of toothpaste and left on by accident for like 4 minutes with it stinging like crazy...... Then I wiped it off... still stung but 5 min later.... I feel it cooling down :D Now at 8:28 P.M. ...... I feel great :)   Cold sores are pure embarasment....!!!!!! Comments By: kayla B on 2011-03-08 I have recently just started getting cold sores at least once a month. NEVER have i gotten them before in my life and they appear in the same spot EVERYTIME. above my upper lip... just perfect right? where most people look, where my boyfriend kisses me. JUST PERFECT!so i read up on toothpast and salt. i was just plain despreate at this point. so i tried it.... its a miricle WORKER:) i suggest not using any diffrent clored toothpaste such as blue gel or anything it stains the scab that color . white toothpast seems to work just great for me, try that out for yourself. And blistex chapstick works good for around the cold-sore area . to keep it moustrized. Hope this helps for others :) p.s Keep the toothpaste and salt mixture on for about an hour to two hours a day. depending on how large and bad the cold-sore is. overnight works great too. BUT when you wash it offf just splash your face with COLD water a few times to lightin up the toothpaste than after thaat, take a wash cloth, and get it quit wet with COLD water and dap where the tooothpaste is it should come off pretty easy after thaaaaaatt(: <3kay   how do you clean off the toothpaste? Comments By: anon on 2011-03-13 I tried the toothpaste idea on a developed coldsore last night and i felt like it had really helped and it looked smaller this morning. however i didnt know how to get off the hardened toothpaste and ended up pulling off the scabs with it - so i think it has done more harm in the end. i will do it again tonight if someone has any advice of how to take it off in the morning?   FML lol Comments By: Cold sore hater on 2011-03-15 Hello Cold sore group! So I woke up with a cold sore yesterday & I googled what to go because Im sick of going to the doctors and having to pay money for creams that dont work!!.. I woke up with a fat lip it was so bad that I didnt go to school cause of the pain! So I went to the drug store and bought everything I found on google that people say work! I put garlic on it yesterday & Ice and it didnt work!!:( So I grabbed salt & hot water & I think its working, It burns but Im hoping it works, Im going to put on toothpaste on tonight hopefully it will be gone bye tmrw!! I wish they would stop coming!!!! oh and DRINK WATER!!   Not Again! Comments By: Sade on 2011-03-16 Ive been getting cold sores all the time but latley i havent i woke up this mornning with a big one i missed 2 days of skoool because of this i put on the toothpaste all its doing is just tingling so hopefully it works! any other ideas?   Worked! Comments By: Chelsea on 2011-03-23 It hurt really bad but got rid of all the yellow stuff that was making me sick! This is my first cold sore and its a really bad one effecting my whole mouth! I'm on about day 5 and my lips are still oozing and bleeding REALLY bad now. But the toothpaste dried it up then I put moisturizer on at night and it was 60 % better!   I have the best coldsore preventative Comments By: Lee on 2011-03-24 Ok so I'm a person who has Had occurring cold sores my whole life. I would get them every 6 months to the date pretty much until now... Since my last cold sore had properly healed I have been using betadine antiseptic liquid ( just dab it on the area I use to get cold sores) even no I didn't have any and it seems to have kept them away for good. Once a week before going to bed I dab a little bit on the area which use to be affected by coldsores which was on the edge of my lip and I think during the night it penetrates into the skin keeping away any cold sores. I haven't had one since I started doing this! I use the antiseptic liquid not the coldsore betadine. I don't know how I thought to do this but it's worked wonders for me.. I hope this helps   sting Comments By: becca on 2011-04-06 i have had my cold sore for a few days now and its really starting to bug me at school like i don't wanna hang round with my boyfriend coz i don't want him thinking bad of me coz of my lip so i have put some toothpaste and salt on and its hurting like hell i just want the dam thing to go i not used to pain like this it kills x   I wish I never did it! Comments By: Anon on 2011-03-30 I tried the whole toothpaste and salt thing, and I honestly wish I never did. My cold sore wasn't that big, it was actually pretty small so I wanted it to go away fast... Especially since I'm a sophomore in high school (and this is just so embarrassing). Anyways when I first put it on I thought I felt it working... I left. It on for an hour, but when I decided to see how it was doing, it like TRIPLED in size. I HATE THIS!   So far so good... Comments By: Not sayin on 2011-04-10 im trying the toothpaste alone bc it always works so well for ance breakouts for me...and I think its important to pay attention to how your body rejoins to certain remedies. ....anyhoozles i can really derek the tingling! It must be working. Just before i put it on I cleaned the affected area with alcohol and the prssed a hot wet rag on it to open up the already opened area to allow roomn for the toothpaste to enter. I really hope this works :( the girl I sit next to in class is such a b and she asked me if my hair is fake and so she will probably bring it up up or act fnny and talk s behind my back and i just want to not deal with it.   reply to: how do you clean off the toothpaste? Comments By: bb on 2011-04-25 hey to remove the toothpaste, i find it is best to use cotton swaps. for more accuurate. put warm water on the cotton bud, it has to be warm - hot otherwise it wont work. u jus need the end to hav warm - hot water on it and then dab it over the hardened toothpaste, it should melt the toothpaste. it melts it and u jus wipe it off, try to do it gently and as clean as possible, one way strokes. u prob gota use a few swabs to get it all off, then use a dry end to absorb all the water leaving it dry , nice n clean.   urine works BEST Comments By: goldendawn on 2011-05-09 Dabbing your own urine on it works the fastest...24 hours it's gone.   Miracle worker Comments By: Soon-to-be-30years on 2011-06-21 Saturday night after partying: I knew I should have applied toothpaste on my lip the night I felt a tingle, but then I was too tired and just went off to bed...a decision I was to regret the next following days. I woke up on Sunday afternoon, with multiple bubbles on my lip, and seeing as I had never ever experienced such a thing, I figured going to the drug store and buying a cream for it and tablets to kill the infection would do. Monday morning, I woke up to the largest cold sore in the entire history of man (or so I thought), a lip bigger than my top and bottom lip combined (and I have me some full lips too...so you can only imagine), and I was basically disgusted and in near tears from the throbbing, mutant looking version of me. Frantic, I began to search online and I came across this site, and I just have to say, I was at a point of desperation, when I went ahead and applied salt first to the sore, as directed here (hold a moist finger over salt and press it to the cold sore for 30 seconds and leave it to seat for as long as you can...I washed it off when I couldn't feel a buzz/tinge anymore.) That night I slept with toothpaste on. Come Tuesday morning, the big purse-like blister, brown in color, was drier and as I washed my face gently, the entire thing fell off to reveal bare skin, a rather open scab and I was terrified. I hadn't read anywhere on here, what to do with the open wound. So much as it looked better that morning, my swollen lip seemed only to get bigger and bigger. That's when I went to see a doctor, and he prescribed a Herpes 1 viral drug called Acirovax, to have 5 times a day. When I got home, I cleaned the wound with salt water, started on the medication and today is Wednesday, and I am almost fully recovered. The swelling has gone down, almost 100percent, and I am only looking forward to the red open wound to dry up ASAP. So I just read on hear about leaving the teabug on the wound for twenty minutes, which by the way had some cooling effect. It looks better and better, and I couldn't ask for a better present than to celebrate my 30th birthday, tomorrow, with normal sized lips (and a little more make up than usual...I can finally invest in that gorgeous lipptick I've been procrastinating on getting). I just wanted to say that I understand everyone's feelings here, and all the encouraging messages I read here helped keep me sane when I thought I was going to loose my mind! Also, that no matter what you think, you are not expecting too much, or setting your hopes on failing remedies, when you read this message. I thought my world had come to an end, and especially since I live all the way in Japan, and as if language barrier is not an issue already, they use different medication here, so I couldn't use any of your lovely suggestions. All the same, I felt inspired and I knew I wasn't alone. I hope I helped somebody, as much as I was helped.   THANK YOU!!! Comments By: m80thewolff on 2011-07-03 Ive had cold sores for years and they're always so embarrassing and I've always wanted to find something that gets rid of them as fast as I can. I'm trying this right now for the first time and I think that its working! I can already feel it doing something so I really hope it works! Thanks to everyone for the helpful comments!   lips like an inner tube!!! Comments By: PAUL74 uk on 2011-07-06 i woke up yesterday with 2 fat lips with half of them in blisters,i started to use tea tree oil which helped slightly but i can assure you it does not taste nice with a cheese sandwich!lol.....drinking tea through a straw is not the way i want to start a day so i found this sight...i have crushed some sea salt with the back of a spoon and made a paste with toothpaste and applied to the effected lips (not too sure how long to leave it on for so i think maybe 30 minutes at a first try then i will apply again through the day and at night)...it stung like stink for the first 10 mins but now i can feel the soothing coolness of the toothpaste...i hope to god this works because i HATE these things with a passion and have tried everything on the market and even tried putting nothing on them in the past!!!thanks for the advice and fingers crossed this will work because i have suffered with these all my darn life!!:o/   cold sores are AWFUL!!!! Comments By: coldsore HATER on 2011-07-30 went to the beach this weekend and forgot to apply chapstick and when i got home TWO GROSS cold sores popped out!! i usually use rubbing alcohol on my cold sores, it dries them QUICK today i also tried toothpaste and it really does numb the pain and dries them Quick too!!   toothpaste and carmex cold sore remedy Comments By: Erik on 2011-08-11 The best thing I have found for cold sores is regular toothpaste and I mean paste and carmex. First apply carmax on the cold sore to soften it up, put a liberal amount on. Then take a nice dap of toothpaste rub it in to the cold sore it will mix with the carmex again a nice thick amount right on the cold sore. Every few hours reapply. The best way is to let it sit on your lip over night while sleeping use warm water or more carmex to remove the toothpaste from your lip. Just use carmex during the day and toothpaste while in your home. It will take about two days and the cold sore will be dead no more burning just a little mark on the lip, will look like you bit or cut your lip just keep adding carmex to keep it from drying out. I find these two working together is the best remedy.   COLD SORE!! Comments By: Tash Jane on 2011-08-11 I have been having cold sores for years but nothing has worked... All the cold sore creams that i get seem to make my lips where the cold sore is worse and it spreads! I thought about using toothpaste because i know it drys up spots.. ( it has worked for me with spots ) and all the soreness in my lip had stopped hurting.. i was amazed because i was pulling at my lip because it was hurting me that much.. so I'm hoping the toothpaste will make it go. Â