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Cold sore removed with Nail Polish Remover

The fastest, most effective way to get rid of a cold sore that I have found is constant application of acetone based nail polish remover. Apply hourly with a Q-tip and then cover with Abbreva.

Take care not to get the cold sore wet and immediately upon exiting the shower dry it with the nail polish remover and the Abbreva. This should dry it out within 24 hours.

Visitors comments

MILK: The Magic Cure Comments By: Mad Dog on 2007-10-15 I have found that applying milk constantly for 10 seconds at a time seems to reduce redness.   Nail Polish Remover is the way to go!!! Comments By: Denise D on 2007-12-13 I have been suffering with cold sores for years. I have tried everything. Camphor Spirit is effective but Nail Polish remover is phenomenal. At the first sign of an outbreak, I soak a cotton ball with remover and hold it to my lip. If a sore has already developed it will burn like hell but the sore will dry up in hours. It is a miracle!!   nail polish on cold sore Comments By: Shelly on 2008-01-14 ive just applied the nail polish remover on my cold sore and even the pain has been surpressed it seems to be working so far, but do you have to put a topical treatment on it after applying the polish remover?   nail polish?? Comments By: suzy on 2008-03-26 my dayz!!!!!! im so depressed!! ma 2nd day of ma lovely coldsore!! ma lip looks BIG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :O :O :O and im goin away UNI TRIP :s on sunday!! tried warn water rubbing it..tries this cream is called coldsore cream by loyds farmacy!! it still there so i tried da nailpolish thing..andit dried it up and da pains kinda gone...untill i start talkin again..oh dont even think about eatin..im tellin u!! so yea!! well see!! ill try it again!! plus ive made doctor appointment see what they say :D   WOW! NAIL POLISH IS A MIRACLE! I PROMISE! Comments By: Madison on 2008-05-16 Ive suffered with cold sores since I can remember. Probably sometime since 6th grade. It is and was so embarrassing to go to school with a cold sore, so I would usually skip school because of the embarrassment. So one day my mom called and told me to use nail polish remover because she had read people's comments on how much it REALLY works. So I was like what the hell, I might as well try it. And it really worked!!!! I promise! I always feel bad for saying I promise to God, but seriously,I promise to God!   Burns lol, however .. Comments By: Deano. on 2008-08-17 hey, thanks for the info. i started getting a cold sore yesterday ( and i had no cream or anything) i quarrantined it using a plaster. I am now using this method on a HUGE coldsore attacking the crease above my chin, i poped the blisters, put the remover on for 3min then soaked a plaster and put it on , It burns but what i've red a fully grown one does and it has already taken care of the itchyness. I will repeat this thanks!!!!   OMG Comments By: Daniel on 2008-09-28 My friend at school told me to use nail polish remover and I didn't believe her because she can be a bitch sometimes but I went home and was desperate so I used it and it like started getting hard fast and it all dried up really fast. Its the best method!   jesus crist! Comments By: alysha on 2008-10-28 i was reading peoples comments and i was a little scared but i did it anyways. and it works wonders!! thank you so much for posting this, your a life saver :)   yes Comments By: sophie on 2008-10-29 nail polish remover does have an effect, it reduces the size of the sore, the pain of the sore and the lenght you have it for. When i apply nail polish remover to a cold sore, they usually last 3-4 and they are nowhere near as visibible as usual!   with vodka Comments By: Sp on 2008-10-29 Believe me, applying nail polish remover with vodka or any other spirit works completely. I woke up around 10am with a massive coldsore, i applied nail varnish remover for about a minuite using a q-tip, then i applied vodka the same away, it alredy started to work. I repeated this for around half an hour. It is now 1pm and i now have no cold sore, just a little red patch that looks like a spot which is going down. Also i apply vaseline onto where it was every so often. This really does work.   Nail Polish Remover Comments By: Dr. Mansen on 2008-11-14 Yesterday I felt a Cold Sore coming on while i was at work i imeediately ran to cvs to buy the OTC prescription for cold sore, abreva which i thought would stop it from coming out. I applied the creme to the affected area overnight only to wake up in the morning with a huge sore on my lower lip, the abreva didnt work for me. Abreva actually moisturizes the afected area making it bigger b4 it gets any smaller, so instead Ive been applying nail polish remover to the sore since about 7am this morning, it is now 1pm and my sore is more than half the size it was this morning. its already scabbing and should be gone by tomorrow as long as i keep applying the nail polish. Nail polsih dries it out very quickly. Also some ways to prevent breakputs from occuring more often, is to avoid splenda or anything that has aspartame in it. Ive done some research and these artifical sweeteners trigger outbreaks. Aside form avoiding these, buy the vitamin form of L-Lysine and take one daily to prevent outbreaks. Switch between vitamin b and lysine about every 3 months to keep the virus dormant.   it burns.... and im getting dizzy Comments By: Kim on 2008-11-16 im trying this remedy as we speak.... it burns but i hope its gone by tomorrow because its my boyfriends bday, and im soooo emberrased for him to see me like this.... its so nasty and icky.... plzzzz god i hope it works.   Nail Polish Comments By: Corinne on 2008-11-21 I just started using it this morning and I will report back with what happens. Abreva NEVER works for me and I always break out for a FULL two weeks and my sore is always in the same place. It starts small then runs down my face. This morning I took a needle and soaked it in nail polish remover, popped the blister and soaked up the fluid with a cotton pad. Then I applied the nail polish remover with the cotton pad. I will keep applying the nail polish remover throughout the day. I pray this works! I have a vacation planned in 3 days and I really don't like pictures of me with this nasty thing on my face!!!!!!   NEVER AGAIN!!! Comments By: Anon on 2008-11-25 I tried the nail polish remover and not only did it burn like a son of a b#*!, but it left a scar the size of the cold sore. Instead of the usual 7-10 days mine lasted a complete 14 and then left this hideous scar to remind me to never try this again.   it works Comments By: anon on 2008-12-23 over the moon it really does work. i hope its completly gone for christmas. it shirinks with in 10 mins amazing . try it   Nail Polish Remover is the best! Comments By: Emily on 2008-12-31 After trying like every product on the market, I can say with confidence that Nail polish remover gets rid of cold sores the fastest. My cold sores are gone in a couple of days with the nail polish remover, vs. like 10 days without it. The key though is hitting it as early as possible with the npr. Now if I could just figure out a way to prevent them in the first place. . .   No No No Comments By: Sasha on 2009-01-20 I woke up this morning with a GIGANTIC fever blister that has made my lip swell to 3x its normal size. I have suffered from cold sores/fever blisters my entire life but today was BY FAR the worse. I was desperate to try anything. I gave the nail polish remover a try...and...now my lip is 4x bigger than it should be. And it's redder. I'm really disappointed because it seemed to work for everyone else. I have very sensitive lips so maybe that's why it didn't work. Will never try again! :(   WOW Comments By: Toph on 2009-01-14 This really works!! Even though the nail polish remover smells and burns its worth it!! my coldsores almost gone!   Going to try it! Comments By: EnglandKells on 2009-02-03 Okay guys... I got a whopper of a cold sore. Normally I use Fenistil, but after reading your posts, I just dabbed nail polish remover on it with a cotton pad. Then I put a bit of the fenistil on it after... is this okay?? I will let you all know how the remover works!   not burn as much Comments By: Anon on 2009-02-05 when you put ice on it for about 15 minutes it goes numb and it doesn't burn as much when u put it on   I think I overdid the acetone Comments By: anon on 2009-02-27 I was skeptical about trying nail-polish remover on a cold sore last year. I was desperate, and at the time was getting cold-sore after cold-sore. I tried the acetone and it worked. Its been about a year, and I woke up yesterday with what I know all to well as the first signs of the nasty beast. I grabbed the acetone bottle and some cotton swabs and started soaking away. Later that night, I still wasn't satisfied with how it looked, and really went at it with the acetone. I admit, I might have gotten a little carried away. Literally I was rubbing the acetone soaked cotton back and forth, pretty hard over the bottom left corner of my lip. I woke up this morning, and now theres a dime size sore, that looks like a burn when I was rubbing the acetone. If I thought a cold sore would be obvious, I had no idea what was coming to me. I'm so embarrased right now - and have to go up to Hollywood tomorrow to celebrate my birthday. Putting make up over it makes it appear crusty, and no matter what its obvious.   not sure if this works, idk.. Comments By: Dee on 2009-03-05 idk, i tried this yesterday and it seemed to be working at first, but eventually went back to its original form.right before bed i applied abreva, following the acetone. i woke up this morning with a swollen lip, and the sore still looks the same.   .... Comments By: Anon on 2009-03-10 i'm so happy i read this and gave it a go,, i have to say its worked, size has reduced, not as sore and obvious,,,:-)   Sterilsed needle, ice and nail polish remover Comments By: Becky on 2009-03-10 Ive been suffering with coldsore since i can remember, not just little ones, but massive ones that take over half the lips! i read on here about the nail varnish method and thought i would give it a try, its best doing it on a day off or a weekend though as once you have done it, it swells for a good few hours! I sterilised a needle and popped all the blisters while dabbing it with tissue (horrible but neccessary!) then i put ice on each of the sores for around 5 mins and then dried my lips with tissue, i then applied nail varnish remover to my lips, it completely dried my lips out and its now around 6 hours later and the redness has gone and im only left with a few light scabs and minimal pain, hopefully by the morning it will be even better!   Man I hope this isnt a joke! Comments By: Amy W. on 2009-03-14 I just went and applied some acetone nail polish remover on my lip. I am not gonna lie I am a little scared about whats gonna happen next. Most of the comments have been positive feed back and I HATE when I get fever blisters. Thank God I have a week of vacation that started today! I will let you know how it works for me. Right now I am trying to keep the remover from getting in my mouth. But the blister feels warm so something is working. Cross your fingers for me and Ill cross mine for you!! :) Ill comment again soon with some updates.   update Comments By: Amy W. on 2009-03-14 I put the nail polish remover on for the first time about 30-45 mins ago.. nothing so far. what i am doing now is i have a bandade holding a small piece of cotton ball soaked in polish remover on my blister.. we will see what happens!   hmmm... Comments By: Amy W. on 2009-03-14 well i tried it and at first it was looking like it was working and it seemed like it was drying up and even felt like it was. I applied it with a q tip every 15-20 mins and even put some on a bandaid and let it sit. Now 2 hours later it looks the same again. Red and infected. I have decided Im going to put some tooth paste on it b4 I go to bed and see how that works. Wish me luck! Ill try the polish remover again tomorrow.... We'll see!   dry the crap out of it with acetone Comments By: la tina on 2009-03-23 When my usual methods did not work i went online and tried the home remedies. I happened to have pure acetone (nail polish remover) and started lightly applying it on my lip with several q-tips. Then i got some toilet paper and pressed the crap out of it. Took most of it away. I will be applying a Lysine balm and taking lysine supplements. Tea tree oil is a good antiseptic and Ibuprophen took away most of the swelling.   Works Like A Damn Charm Comments By: COLLEGE STUDENT on 2009-03-25 Had swollen lip/emerging blister last night. Applied 100% acetone nail polish remover to the sore and it was completely gone by this afternoon. Great Tip, Thanks a lot. I have finally found a way to stop these bloody things from happening. To think your day is completely out of your control from a stupid cold sore. THANKS   Fingers Crossed #1 Comments By: ca on 2009-03-31 Just put on the nail polish remover.. its been 20 minutes.. and not much has changed, but it feels like its working so i will give it a 3 at the moment, keep u posted   thanks! Comments By: :) on 2009-04-01 i've gotten cold sores ever since i can remember, try being in grade 2 and having little children ask 'what up with your face' this year it's gotten so bad i've missed days of school because high schoolers know how to make you feel worse about the situation. This morning i woke up snd felt a cold sore coming in the exact same spot i had like 2 weeks ago, i put ice on it for over 20 minutes which not only numbed it for acetone but started a killing process since like most viruses, cold sores hate cold. i can already feel the acetone burning and i think this time it won't be noticable at all, thank you so much to the person who decided to put nail polish on their face! :) I've also heard yogurt helps dry it out so i am going to put some on when i wake up in a couple hours before school. I hope that helps someone!   Taking ur Word...! Comments By: Kathy Joe on 2009-04-11 I woke u this morning with a MAJOR blister right in the middle of my upper lip! And now my lips is huge!!Grrr! Iv tried so many otc meds and NOTHING has worked for me. Its 1pm and im about to try the nail polish remover. From the responses iv read it gave me hope! Keep U Posted!   OK IT WORKED!!!! Comments By: Kathy Joe on 2009-04-11 ok guys so im updating on the whole polish remover idea.... thanks to the genius who ever started that idea. it worked almost immediatly. it is now 12.5am and it is nearly gone!! Thank u Genius!!   worked Comments By: deb on 2009-04-21 I took an old lip balm pot and put in some remover and salt together and applied that mix. What usually takes a week is now at say day 3 only 2hrs in. Amazing   Wow - Amazing Amazing Amazing Comments By: Anon on 2009-05-07 I haven't had a cold sore for years then after arriving home from holiday (having been exposed to bright sunight and being run down) my lip erupted last night. I applied Zovirax immediately to no avail. Woke up this morning with the left side of my bottom lip double in size with a disgusting yellow crusty sore. Called in sick as too embarassed to leave the house. Lied about why i couldnt go in! Anyway, desperate to find a cure i googled it. I came across this site with the acetone tip. Strange i thought but willing to try anything. Well im absolutely amazed. Within 1/2 hr the ugly crusty yellow sore turned into a small red rough patch. Just like it looks when you've almost recovered from one. Its still swollen but its so much better. A miracle cure. Thanks Tipking   wow Comments By: Anon on 2009-05-07 this is my first cold sore, and i am mortified right now. it is above my lip and is pea sized and hurts like a mo-fo. i just got over a nasty cold that was accompanied by a high fever, which is what i'm assuming triggered my outbreak. i've spent all day doing research on cold sores and nail polish remover seemed to have the most consistent testimonials. i finally worked up the nerve to try it and it immediately (within 30 seconds) took the swelling and puffiness down. i will continue to apply the npr every few minutes and am on my way to the store to get some lysine pills. i'll let you know tomorrow how it works out for me. so far it seems to be working. and p.s. my sore was open when i put 100% acetone npr on it and it really didn't sting that badly. don't be soft and just do it.   Just about to try Comments By: kelly on 2009-05-25 HIya everyone, i have what has to be the biggest and uggliest coldsore between my lip and my nose. It isnt painful but is so huge, my lips are 3x the size they are meant to be. So i looked on here and i am just about to start putting on the nail polish remover and vodka. It is 0800 now so will update you later what it looks like....   ill try anything Comments By: boobzilla on 2009-05-27 Ok Ok i 2 have a huge awful horrifying cold sore it is the size of a silver dollar i kid u not - my face is just on fire!!!! abreva is not doing a damn thing - so im leaving work in an hour and going home to do this nail polish thing - im vrey worried about it cus ive tried to cover one w polish itself and it just made it so much worse - but its me or it and i am determined to win!!!!   trying it Comments By: girl on 2009-06-01 willl the nail polish remover work if the cold sore isnt popped?   NOT SURE YET... Comments By: Gem on 2009-06-15 I have just felt the tingle and noticed the first of the bubbles. Ran to shop to get some acetone, I'm desperate for this to work. Will let you know how I get on.   PERFECT Comments By: Amanda Link on 2009-06-19 omg i love it. it worked like a charm. my lips were already swollen. then i put the nail polish remover and the vodka it it smaller quickley. and i just continued to out it on there and there almost gone.   Tryin It Now!!! Comments By: Nakeya on 2009-06-21 Well i dnt kno if its really workin but im tryin it... it burns like a mutha so im thinkin its workin... I bust mine first and squeezed everything out atleast all I could now im applyin da nail remover i hope it work i dnt want 2 go 2 work or school another day with dis... I will keep u posted!!!   OMG Comments By: Anon on 2009-06-27 I have been getting cold sores since I was a kid..and just like everyone else i hate them and so embarassed whenever i get one. i tried Abreva once and it got bigger..no joke..the ice trick does work too..but for the first time last night i tried the nail polish remover..its like a miracle..u dont need a lot..just a little on a Qtip for a few minutes..and when i woke up this morning it was dry!   It works! Comments By: Mera on 2009-07-06 Two days ago out of no where and without any tingle warning, I got my first cold sore in 6 years. Anyway, I went to the store and purchased campho phenique and then abreva the next morning. I was using both otc meds plus applying ice to it. It was extremely itchy and painful. So, after reading all the comments here,I decided to try the nail polish remover. I used it first around 11am and followed up with the abreva. I took a nap. After waking up around, I notice it had already reduced drastically. So, I applied the polish remover again. After looking in the mirror 30mins later, it was barely noticeable only slightly swollen. Here it is only 6 hrs since my first application of the remover and it's barely there. I am really thankful that this remedy works!   If only this worked permantantly Comments By: Anon on 2009-07-25 life saver, my self esteem is so low atm, ive only slept with one girl, and i got this :L, stings a wee bit but thanks   just amazing !!!!!!!! Comments By: margaret on 2009-07-29 i woke up with cold sore tingling this morning,,applied nail polish wipe to the sore about three times this morning,,and wow,,,,it gone it did sting for a second but i can't beleive it worked no more buying cold sore cream for me well done to the people on here for this remedy cheers,,,,,,   first cold sore ever Comments By: Britney on 2009-08-06 So this is my first cold sore, I'm 32 and staying in the house until this is gone!! Went to the dr, got a prescription for 7 days and read about the nail polish remover/vodka. As soon as I got it I ran to get Abreva didn't see a different, then bought the lysine cream still nothing. It's day 4 and I'm ready for this to be gone! My boyfriend wants to see me haha So I tried the nail polish, stung a bit but it seems to be much dryer and removed all the wet scabs. Fingers crossed, I want to get back to my life!   Hmm Comments By: Hollyy on 2009-08-07 It worked but nipped like hell!:( xx   swollen lip from nail polish remover Comments By: justin on 2009-08-09 I came across this site after finding a small cold sore on my lip this morning. i did everything i read and after applying the nail polish with a cotton ball my lip got extremely swollen and im in worse condition now than before. Nail polish may work for some but not all. Be careful!   it seems to be working Comments By: krystal on 2009-08-23 i think that it is working. i got a fever blister yeaterday after being outside to long and i just got a tiny blister but when i woke up this morning a had 4 big ones. well i applied the nail polish about 20 minutes ago and i think it is working   watching...hoping...waiting Comments By: ashley on 2009-09-04 I get these things all the time! UGH, I swear it's a curse or something, personally I blame it on my father, he gets them as well. Back to the subject though, i've tried just about everything to clear these things up quickly. I woke up this morning with a pretty fair sized blister on my bottom lip, and it's none other than labor day weekend! Yay! Lucky me! lol... Right! I tried this polish remover and I'm not really sure how it works, but i put some on a cotton ball and held it to a pre popped blister. It does burn and I think u may want to cover your nose. The smell is awful! I actually walked outside to lighten it up. I'm going to keep putting it on hourly and hope this works! I'll update this blog tmrw, just to keep u posted.   Hoping it works Comments By: Susanna on 2009-09-15 I havent had cold sores allll my life, but I do remember how I got my first one. It was on a long trip to Toronto and I picked up some coffee at the service center. Sadly, since that day I've had a friend who visits me four - eight times a year. I've tried everything. It was at a point where I'd carry abreva like I'd carry my keys with me. I saw this site and gave the nail polish trick a try. Lordy lord, the pain is unbearable..... but hopefully it works !!! Its been 10 mintues and my friend seems to be calming down. No acting up. Im going ot bed now, hopefully he leaves tomorrow! AND my liscense picture turns out great -_-'   Nail Polish Works Comments By: Anon on 2009-09-21 It works on me. I always pop a couple of extra vitamins (multi) as well to help my immune system a bit. Some of these people seem to ignore the fact that you don't rub the stuff in, just put it on a cotton swab or cloth and gently dab some on the cold sore. DO NOT rub it hard, especially with your fingers, it will get infected with bacteria, and the cold sore virus will be the least of your worries. Be gentle and apply no more than 30 seconds to a minute ad a time 3 or 4 times a day, and it will dry up in less than a day most likely. If you go more than a minute you could possibly give yourself a chemical burn which is worse than the cold sore   Update on the hoping Comments By: Susanna on 2009-09-22 Ok so heres what happened.... the next morning my cold sore was gone.. there was a small (manageable) scar on my lip. I twasn't too visible so my liscence picture turned out great. But almsot 5 days later I got ANOTEHR ONE !!! Except this time i noticed that i got two one on my per lip and on on my lower lip. I think the nail polish spread the virus around because ive never had then on my lower lip beforeeee   the REAL fix is antiviral pills Comments By: sorenomore on 2009-10-03 seriously .. i keep a valtrex pill with me at all times in my purse to take as soon as i even THINK i might be getting a cold sore .... my gyn refills my prescription whenever it gets low ... if you take a pill AS SOON as you suspect one, the sore will either: never appear; or only be a tiny pinhead size which goes away fast ..... take one more pill the next day and you are finished with the pills for that outbreak (ie: the virus is finished, and all that's left is for the skin to heal)... i've also noticed that i have outbreaks MUCH less frequently since using this medication .... it's not cheap, but i only need 2 pills per outbreak and my outbreaks are less and less frequent ... there are also generics of zovirax ... ask your doctor and get this plague out of your life!!!   nail polish and lysine cream Comments By: keya on 2009-10-10 friday moring i woke up with a cold sore on my bottom lip. that afternoon i ended up with two full blown cold sores. as soon as i got home i went online for cold sore remidies and found this site by reading all the positive comments i gave it a try and i say it working so far i applied nail polish remover to dry them up then i read that lysine lip cream was a very good source for cold sores too. so i ran up to walgreens to buy the lysine cream. now it saturday night and im glad to say is all i have left is a small scab on my lower lip. hopfully it would be gone by tuesday because i dont want to go to school with this scab on my lip!!!   new user Comments By: anon on 2009-10-17 well i felt a coldsore coming on.... i really didn't have time or the money to buy anything so i looked online an saw to use nail polish remover.... at first i was like wth!.... but tried it.... an it burned but feels like its workin.... i can usually tell by lickin my lips but i dnt wanna cause nail polish remover is SSSooooo nastY!... i have hope   This is working pretty well!! Comments By: Larissa on 2009-10-18 So, I've had this cold sore on my lip, not that bad, doesn't hurt that much but i've had it for about 3 or 4 days now, just waiting for it to go away. Well, school is tomorrow so i needed something to work fast, and so far the nail polish remover has made it shrink half in size! There's a bit of redness around the infection but i'm sure that will go away soon. (hopefully!)   hurts bad but working Comments By: Ryan on 2009-10-23 It is painful but its working its been a long day just blew 17.99 on abreva when i could have bought this for a dollar   help! Comments By: ouuchh on 2009-10-28 after i put nail polish remover on my cold sore, what do i so. it stings more than before and i can hardly talk and eat. i put nail polish remover on about four times. what should i do now? HELP!   I Dont Knoww Comments By: keikei on 2009-11-02 im so scared mann i dont know if i should or not its a big chance what if something goes wrong pleaseeee help me   WORKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Comments By: JOnas on 2009-11-06 This really does work...the minute I feel a tingle, I dab nail polish remover, I keep a bottle of nail poilsh in my purse, desk, car, everywhere...havent had a outbreak in 1 year.....   4 Easy Steps to care and cover your sore while it heals... Comments By: Satisfied with my home remedy and its not expensive! on 2009-11-06 4 Easy Steps: 1-Kill the virus on your sore with apple cider vinegar/crushed garlic, & walnut oil. Apply it with a banana peel. Leave it on for 1 minute. Repeat this 3-4 times for half the day. 2 - Take neosporin and leave on for 3- hours, cover it with a band-aid if you need to leave your house, or go to sleep. 3- Use nail polish remover every half hour, by soak it for 30 sec at a time. Do this step all day long and watch you blister heal. 4- Cover the sore - let your sore have a thin skin layer after using the nail polish, and apply "new skin band-aid" - let it dry before apply 2-3 coats. This works if you need to cover it up with make-up. But when you come home, clean it again with nail polish remover and repeat step 3 until its healed. If you can do these steps with care, your sore will not turn into a horrible scab, just a thin layer of skin healing itself from the inside to the outside. Good Luck   Just Gave the Nail Polish A Try! Comments By: MSIMMS on 2009-11-17 I am so happy people post what they have done, it really helps me everytime i have some kind of issue i need a remedy for! I just held acetone "remover" on my clear blisters on my swollen lip for a couple minutes and the blister shrank and it dried the area! Then i applied aloe on to not have it looking so dry and bc i read that it helps as well... SO i am going to keep applying every hour or so and see what wonders will happen!! I'll keep you poseted. THANKS EVERYONE   acetone + sweating Comments By: anon on 2009-12-13 The nail polish remover works but you have to make sure to constantly be applying the nail polish remover on the sore. Just once will not do. Also, I have found that exercise helps prevent the cold sores. I have been getting them since I was young but in the past two years I haven't gotten any because I make sure to have a good sweaty workout at least twice a week. The moment i go two or weeks without exercise is the moment i get a cold sore.   Holy hell, it actually worked! Comments By: Sky on 2009-12-15 I've suffered from cold sores for as long as I can remember. Abreva seemed to speed up the cold sore cycle hence making it shorter, but I'd still have to suffer through those couple of days where I had a raging pus-filled blister on my lip. The other day I felt a BIG one coming on and decided that there must be a better way to fight them, which is when I came upon this site. Dab some acetone (nail polish remover) on it every 10 minutes before it becomes a sore and it'll dry up before it even gets a chance to! Stings alot but it works. You can use it at any stage of the coldsore except scabbing phase (when the sore/liquid is gone and stops leaking and a scab starts to form).   works Comments By: anon on 2009-12-19 ok, i saw on a different thread that the remover works, so i googled it to see other responses, and overwhelmingly people agreed that this did work...so, i mustered up the nerve to try it...being on the 2nd day of noticing the coldsores...the first had been using abreva, although i had to wait half a day to use that...anyways, today is the 3rd day (saturday) and honestly it is almost gone...when i woke up this morning, my mom commmented on how it looked (no so good) and as the day progressed she agreed how its a lot less red...i did NOT tell her about the polish remover though...anyways, i am really hoping by tomorrow it is all the way gone, as i have this new guy im seeing and had to cancel my friday (last night) and saturday (tonight) plans, cause i don't want him to see my like this...but, seriously, everyone is different, so your body may react differently, but i highly suggest to use acetone nail polish remover.   Im Not so sure :S Comments By: Kirstyy on 2009-12-18 I have had a cold sore all week and it just wont go away! im seriously about to cry haha im trying the Nail polish remover now it hurt alot but its ok now! i hope it clears up over the weekedn im going to my boyfriends and dont want to look horrible!!   in the midst Comments By: afraid on 2009-12-23 applying it as we speak. can feel the burning so hopefully it works. My mum's very concerned about me using it so i hope all goes well or itll be 'I told you so'. fingers crossed this works. ill let you all know!! (yn)   WAITING AAHHH Comments By: Kelly on 2009-12-28 have applied nail varnish remover to my lip and just waiting!!! really need it to go in 2day!! not sure of my chances my my fingers are crossed ...hate coldsores feel for all u guys on here too   idk about this?? Comments By: shanti on 2009-12-29 i put nail polish remover on it..nut it seems redder & its pulsing, but it didnt sting.. did i do something wrong??   Nail Polish works wonders Comments By: Briana on 2009-12-30 i just used the naill polish remover when i felt a cold sore coming in. It did hurt really bad but it works! Just apply some type of lip balm after   Im scared Comments By: Shyanne on 2010-01-02 im soo scared to use it, i hate getting the stupid things, people make fun of me! :( i hate it! i want it gone forever!! im gonna try to use nail polish remover.   Top class Comments By: Mell xx on 2010-01-05 I had 2 cold sores side by side my lip swelled up like I've been fighting with mike Tyson. Looked on th Internet for some help and started using nail polish remover. What can I say it was fab th swelling went down straight away got a scab now after 2 days it's fantastic all I can say is. THANKYOU xxxx   Same cold sore, now with a HUGE swollen lip Comments By: frustrated on 2010-01-05 I read about everyone's success rate with this nail polish remedy, and attempted this yesterday. I was willing to try anything. But this morning I woke up with my cold sore still there and hideous, and a HUGE swollen lip. I have gotten cold sores before and they have never looked this terrible. Maybe I am just having a bad reaction, but I would suggest to be very careful, and use the nail polish sparingly.   day three Comments By: Sweetheart on 2010-01-26 Day one, I felt the red bump come up and I immediately Iced it then put alcohol on it. The next day I could see a very small cluster of bumps about to scab so I applied NPR without acetone every 10 minutes for an hour. I cover the side with make-up and wen to school. It was stinging the whole time during class and I felt my lip drying up. When I got home it started to bubble more and seemed to spread a bit so I put more NPR on it. I noticed my lip was burning and drying uip. Today, Day three, I stayed home and slept all day because I was up all night tending to it. I have only applied vitamin E to heal the burnt skin. No bubles today just looks like scabs and a scar from the burning. Hopefully things clear up before the weekend!!   just have to wait now Comments By: Anon on 2010-01-27 i got a very big lump on my lip on sunday, and the coldsore broke out on monday, it is now wednesday and i even took the day off school because it looked so bad this morning! i tried evrything from tea bags to tooth paste, and nothing seemed to work!, ive just tried the nail polish remover and ive seen it dramaticly get smaller, less painfull and less noticable!i plan on keep applying it every hour :), im spending a night with my boyfried tommorow and dont want this vile thing on my face! i shall update tommorrow and let you all know if it worked wonders or not, but pleasee god help me :( x   f*** these blisters :( Comments By: camel on 2010-02-16 i got a hugggge cold sore a couple days ago..i bought creams and lysine..it didnt seem to work..yesterday i woke up with 3 more on my lips! i put some garlic on it..it burned and smellled discusting but it brought down the swelling..last night before i went to bed i applied salt crushed asprin an hydrogen peroxide..i woke up an surprisingly they were dried :) but still there :( so now im trying this nail polish remover thing..hopfully it works..cause i cant miss school anymore!   its back !!! Comments By: jess on 2010-02-20 i used nail varnish remover last nite before i went to bed and it disapeared the hole thing had gone, i woke up this morning and now its bloody back? why is this ? how can i get rid of it again ?? i couldn't hold the remover on for too long becoz it hurt like hell, please help x   Amazing Comments By: Smiley on 2010-02-22 So, like many others on this site have had cold sores prior to this posting. However, I never came across using nail polish remover. Worried? Yes. Buying a 14.99 micro tube of Abbreva again and not seeing the results I wanted? No. Tried the nail polish removed (strawberry scented) about 1.99 (I already had it in the house) I'm staring at a tiny healing space where this GINORMOUS cold sore was 3 hours ago... I'm sticking by this until the wheels fall off, I might even go invest in a pure acetone bottle to keep on deck... So I've applied 3 times in the last 3 hours and it's been amazing. I also have been using Neosporin as a balm, it also cuts healing time down right? It's working great... I know I'm rambling but I have one more thing to say, upon researching natural / scientific ways I noticed NONE of the store-spiffy brand cold sore tiny tubes had any of the natural healing ingredients listed on numerous websites and forums... w/e I'm sticking with the nail polish remover... who knew?!   It works Comments By: Rachel on 2010-02-25 I dont get cold sores ofter maybe once a year. But when I get them it basically takes over my lip. I tried the acetone and its the third day and its pretty much healed what a life saver. When I try abreva it takes two weeks. The acetone defintely worked for me.   OMFG Comments By: Demichael on 2010-03-09 Omg I woke up wit diz huge dinosaur on my lip so I didn't go to cuz u no who would but anyway all day I tried 2 find a way to get rid of the monster, I mean I tried herpecon to toothpaste n nothin really helped. So when the day was almost done I tried diz lil remidy n after 20 min redness dissapered n inch has stopped!!!!!!!!! Quick n easy p.s num lipps wit ice b4 cuz nail polish remover hurts lik hell!!!!!!   eep Comments By: Katherine on 2010-03-10 So i tried this today....i always seem to get a coldsore right when i start dating a new guy. I dont know if its because i get stressed out or what not...but its so annoying! i just met a new one last week, we have only been out twice...and boom i wake up with a monster the size of north america on my lip. Just wondering tho, if anyone is around on this and can offer me some help...when i put it on and it scabbs over, is it a better idea to just leave the scabs and what not there, or should i take em off? also...is this super bad for my lips, causeid rather deal with a coldsore for 10 days, then have no lips! hahah Appears to be working tho, just got it this morning and its already at the dirty scab stage! hahaha (usually day 4 or 5)   QUESTION Comments By: -Erika on 2010-03-15 are supposed to pop the blisters first and then apply the nail polish remover? so far, i just dabbed a cotton ball with the remover and pressed it against my lip. its burns like hell but it reduced the size. i have a date thursday and i really don't wanna cancel :(   scabbing stage Comments By: heather on 2010-03-17 Does anyone suggest anything for the scabbing stage. Used the nail polish remover up until this point but am scared that using it now would just burn the scab off and start the whole process again. Also nervous to put a moisturizer on it in case that has a bad effect. Have had this monster for 4 days and REALLY need get rid of it :(   Big Pharma will NOT like this... Comments By: Herpes Free on 2010-03-22 because for a 50 cent bottle of this stuff you can DESTROY cold sores.   just used nail polish remover... Comments By: Maya on 2010-04-02 i didn't have ice so i had to compromise.. i let the tap run until it became very cold and kept putting cotton swabs under it and pressing it to my lip. then i sterilized a sewing needle and popped the blister. it was at that yellow-ish soft stage and once i pressed down with a kleenex to get the pus out, the whole thing fell off. i just continued and put nailpolish remover on the cold sore. then i applied toothpaste to it and left it on. i hope it works! im going out for easter in two days and i at least want to minimize the appearance of it. i'll write back and let you all know if it worked! :)   cold sore and nail polish remover Comments By: Kat on 2010-04-03 Okay..I worked out during the day and took a shower as soon as i came out a huge coldore was on the top of my lip. so i used abreva and come to find out 2 hours later the sore was HUGE!!! so i went on line to google and found diff pages talking about home remedies! the ice works and i was a bit skeptical about the nail polish remover but I'm so desperate so here i am talking aboout this, so i did the needle and the whole soaking. within minutes it started to burn but its 933pm and it started to dry out. it works. will keep doing it again and fallow up.. so happy!   IT WORKS!!! Nail polish remover!! Comments By: Kat on 2010-04-03 I started this at 933pm using a sterile needle and dipping it in acetone. I cleaned the area where the cold sore is at with alcohol then pushed out the fluid with the needle and applied acetone. it is now 1025 pm and i did the process 3 times with in the hour and my cold sore has dried up!! its a bit red but Ill tell you this this really works. will keep doing the same thing till the next day! thank you soooooo much!!!   Ive been getting cold sores for years!!! Comments By: T on 2010-04-09 And the past few years they have recently gotten worse and Ive seen to be getting cold sore after cold sore whenever they decide to break out...they hurt more than anything and ive seen the npr comments for a while now and never tried it!! I'm just starting to get one and also getting over one on my lip but now gettingone above my lip!! I just put the npr on it and it stung a little but nothing big!! Well see what happens......   its great! Comments By: roger on 2010-04-12 well i got 3 huge fever blisters last night very painful i tried putting bleach and alcohol on it and it wasnt seeming to work so i look online and see this remedy and put nail polish remover on and its already drying up and scabbing and its only been a couple hours it amazing thank god!!   For itching/hurting Comments By: Anon on 2010-04-14 I had just come down with my first cold sore (yuck) on Friday, but didn't know it was a cold sore so didn't do anything about it. Today (Tuesday) it wasn't overly puffy -just a bit- but looked like a brownish yellowish scab and itched and burned like crazy. It burned so bad and nothing, not even Carmex or Neosporin helped....it seemed to make it worse. Then I stumbled across the nail polish remover remedy. I was skeptical at first, especially since most people wrote that it worked best at the onset, or first 'tingle,' but due to the pain figured I would give it a try. I am so glad I did. Just a few seconds after applying the itch and burn was completely gone. COMPLETELY GONE!!!!!! I can't really comment on appearance yet, it's only been about twenty minutes, but, for me, just the acetone taking away the itch and burn was more than enough. Hopefully, now that I know what a cold sore is, at the first sign of one next time I will be dabbing on the acetone. Oh, and in the time it took for me to type this....the color of my lip returned to normal and the cold sore is barely visible. And, just to reiterate.....I only dabbed on the remover, twice within about 10 minutes, using a clean Qtip each time. The burning wasn't nearly as bad as the itch and burn. This is an awesome miracle cure!   i agree:) Comments By: anon on 2010-04-19 i agree i have been dealing with cold sores since i could remember, applied the nail polish remover and think it really helps to dry out the sore, you can actually feel the acetone eating away at the cold sore i give it a two thumbs up!!!   woo! Comments By: Manny on 2010-04-27 have been getting cold sores for years and have been prescribed all kinds of fancy ointments but nail polish works better than anything else ive tried. had the beginning of a cold sore last week where the sores had already formed, used nail polish remover right away and they were dried out in hours/!!   pretty sure but not quite Comments By: senior'10 on 2010-05-03 well i applied the nail polish remover with a q tip and left it on for about a min. and it started to burn like a mothafuker!! then i applied the abreeva...ima do it hourly and see what it does...i have high hopes for this tho =)   If you WANT to suffer, dont try npr!!! Comments By: NPR 100% supporter! on 2010-05-04 I get a cold sore about 1 a year around the time of the weather change to summer. Usually i have a tingleing warning the night before but not this time..i woke up yesterday at 730 with 3 small blisters and a slightly swollen lip...not big and crazy yet, but def visable. So i took 3000 mg of Lysine and then i put acetone nail polish remover on it every hour on the hour starting at 8am, and Abreva every 2 hours after the npr dried. i iced for 15 min 1 at 10 and again at 2...i continued this until about 7 ( i had a 1st date at 8)...i did NOT pop the blisters!...by 8 the swelling was gone, the blisters were BARELY visible...not at all noticable unless you know to look for them!!! Can you say fewsh?...normally by this time they would have doubled in size and been a complete ugly mess! My date went great! and I woke up this morning... GONE...yes REALLY!!! 1 blister i can still kind of feel slightly under the skin so i will continue with the npr and abreva today to insure it does not come back, but they are gone! Honestly there are no ugly side affects...you dont need to pop them and make them scab....just carefuly press with a npr soaked cotton ball or q-tip for 10-30 seconds every hour and follow with abreva...NO side affects, little to no burn...and the easiest, fastest method ever. NPR = 24hour results! I PROMISE!!!!   getting married and on the road! Comments By: Wedding cold sore on 2010-05-24 I am getting married this coming weekend and have so stressed getting ready for it,,,,, so it's no surprise that I woke up yesterday to the dreaded tingling. I had prepared with a valtrex prescrip, i got it filled but the cold sore got worse this morning! Added abreva which def made it even worse. I was given the new generic valtrex and was psyched bc it was cheaper- but it did NOT work. Now my fiance has gone to get me brand name valtrex as I apply Nail polish remover, I have to say after spending hundreds of dollars on these meds, the nail polish remover is giving the best results. Please god, make this go away- crossing my fingers for everyone else. This is just the worst!   Trying it out for the first time Comments By: Vj on 2010-06-04 Im starting to date this amazing guy and suddenly... as a tradition... BAM! cold sore right on the middle of my upper lip... F!!!! so I googled the hell out of this and found this forum. I've applied ice for a couple of minutes and now Nail polish remover every couple of minutes... It doesn't seem to be getting worse but I dont know if its working so hope it works!!! I do feel any kind of burn with the npr but the ice definitely reduces the swelling. I'll update later today.   amazing cold sore treatment Comments By: Natalie on 2010-06-14 after reading this article and hearing to use nail polish as an alternative tratment for the dreaded cold sore thought i had nothing to loose by trying this....so alas i gave it a go and have to say that Nail Polish Remover is my new Best Friend....i have suffered from cold sores for as long as i can remember they usually last for a week or more, in just 24hours its almost completely gone!!! it dries it up almost instantly......   used before Comments By: Laura hates cold sores on 2010-06-16 i used nail varnish remover before, and it worked wonders as i put it on when it first came. BUT, i woke up at my grandma's today with a bump. EW. Came home and put nail Vanish remover on it, then had to go to school, no one noticed it but it has now spread! So i poped it and put nail vanish remover on it, and hopefully it will go! Thankyou to the man who discovered this cure   IT REALLY WORKS !!! 6/2010 Comments By: Tanya B on 2010-06-20 I had two cold sores a huge one on my nose and another on my lip. My doctor gave me acyclovir 400 mg. That helped with the other symptoms, but the nasty beast was still there. I read your site and decided to try acetone nail polish remover last night. Woke up this morning and to my complete amazement, already both are dried up. They look 100 % better. Thanks   clear nail polish! Comments By: Anna pelty on 2010-06-24 omg i had such a bad cold sores they were really little and swollen up.but then my doctor told me to either use abbreva,that stuff is exspensive.so i just used clear nailpolish.it really works!! i applied on to the cold sore and 2 days later was gone.as it soaks into the skin it kills the bacteria in the sore so nailpolish dryes it up and kaboom!! 2 DAYS LATER GONE!!   Got a date tomorrow! Comments By: KRISTIAN on 2010-06-24 OMG! I GOT A DATE TOMORROW WITH MY BOYFRIEND THAT I HAVE BEEN DATING FOR OVER A MONTH NOW. HE'S GETTING BACK FROM HIS R.O.T.C TRAINING THAT HE LEFT FOR ON MONDAY. TOMORROW IS FRIDAY AND I'VE HAD THIS COLDSORE ON MY LIP FOR THE WHOLE WEEK! IT HURTS ICE DOESN'T HELP ITS BROWN AND GROSS AND I'M PRAYING TO GOD THIS NAIL POLISH REMOVER WORKS OR ELSE I'M REALLY GOING TO HAVE TO BOWL TOMORROW.:( I GET COLDSORES AT LEAST 3 TIMES A YEAR AND THEY'RE A PAIN AND EVERYTIME I HAVE SOMETHING COME UP THEY POP UP- PICTURES DATES MEETING REALLY CUTE BOYS THEY ARE EMBARRASSING! HOPE THIS WORKS!   An Honest Opinion Comments By: Workaholic on 2010-06-25 I have the beginnings of a cold sore. I woke up with a small bump and knew exactly what it was. I have already applied abreva to the sore. I am now going to try this Nail Polish Remover tip. Hopefully this works, I have a date tonight and would hate to cancel...   Me again~ Comments By: Natalia on 2010-07-08 Yeah, it didn't work for me. It just made it redder and scabby :(   I don't know... Comments By: Natalia on 2010-07-06 Okay, so I'm thirteen years old, and I was desperate to get rid of this. The cold sore developed throughout yesterday, and I realized it was a cold sore late at night. My mom gave me some neosporin which only seemed to calm the itch a little, but nothing worked. I just tried the whole nail polish remover thing, and I'm crossing my fingers that it works. Thankyou for the encouraging comments, guys. Let's hope it works! (:   I'm doing this now Comments By: ABCDEFGH on 2010-07-08 I'm trying this now and its only just started coming up. it's a little lump. and it hurts a little bit. not much. looks better already (:   I hate these friggin things! Comments By: Alex on 2010-07-20 I have been fortunate enough as well to be infected with this disgusting virus...I've been getting them for years and I usually have around two breakouts a year...two days ago I felt the infamous tingle...I prayed to God to not let it pop up!! ...I popped the tiny blisters on my lip that night, dipped my finger in nail polish remover and it didn't even swell up! (well barely, it wasn't even noticable to my boyfriend!!) I melted two ice cubes on it also (definitely makes swelling go away for those who don't know)...now I'm in the scab stage, but you can't even see the scab! It should be completely gone very soon. Prayers and nail polish remover do work!!!   PRAYING IT WORKS Comments By: WANDA on 2010-07-21 JULY/2010 I'M LEAVIN TO GO OUT THGE COUNTRY IN 1 DAY, I'VE IN THE PAST TRIED EVERYTHING, EVEN BLEACH, SO I'M TRYING ACETONE, AND PRAYERFULLY IT WORKS, I'LL REPORT BACK.   :) Comments By: abb on 2010-08-03 stopped hurting; stings so bad when you put it on though :| hopefully will work soon though :)   Tiny cold sores just coming out Comments By: Morgan on 2010-08-05 This weekend i went on holiday and got major sun exposure. After coming back i got tiny cold sores and i applied remover once. It seems to have decreases the size of the sores. I'll keep posting on my advance   OMG ! finally it works Comments By: Deena on 2010-08-14 Well 3 days ago i felt itchiness and burninq , i thought it was just a random lip itch , but over the days i started to realise it was a cold sore , ******** annoying little things . I have a cluster on the top left of my lip and reading from this post , i put a whole heap ( well not a whole heap ) of soaked tissues of nail polish remover to my lip , its 11:24pm here so I will post something tomorrow seeing how it goes , but before I go sleep i'm gonna put some toothpaste on the coldsores. WISH ME LUCK !   acetone and its really gone... Comments By: prince gotti on 2010-08-15 A lil old lady said..Chile ...6 aspirin...a teaspoon of nail polish remover....and a pinch of table salt...mix an apply with cotton.....salt reduces swelling..asprin reduces swelling promotes healing....acetone dries rapidly...   nail polish remover Comments By: meron on 2010-09-03 whoever came up with nail polish remover for cold sore treatment should get a noble prize. IT WORKS!!!I wish i have known about it a while ago.   nail polish is number 1 for cold sores!!! Comments By: Leanne on 2010-09-07 i had tried lots of things that i have read on here for my cold sores e.g teabags, purfume, milk, i even tried the earwax one coz i was that desperate, anyways i went to town and bought some nail polish remover and i must say it works so fast its brill, it does burn a bit but well worth the pain, well recommended   just giving it a shot Comments By: Brian on 2010-09-21 I heard about the whole ear wax thing but I clean my ears frequently so I really don't have much of anything to use. Not to mention, I wouldn't want to actually resort to that method any who. But I have heard bees wax works so I have applied it a few minutes ago and in a little over and hour I'll be cleaning it off to see if there are any significant to small changes in the appearance of this little bugger. However if this doesn't work then I shall take up the nail polish remover method. Be back in a bit   SO GOOD Comments By: amanda on 2010-09-22 Damn cold sores, seriously make me want to crawl in a hole a cry. Anyway Monday morning my lip started to feel funny and I didn't want to believe it was a cold sore as I haven't had one since high school. Anyway after a few hours I couldn't ignore it so I left work to go buy some Zovirax. After frantically applying zovirax the next morning I woke up and my lip was HUGE! So Tuesday I stayed home from work and ditched the piece of crap Zovirax. I lanced the blisters and dabbed on nail polish remover followed by a blob of toothpaste. This really helped and by the end of the day it was getting to a crusty yellow day 3-4 type sore. Slept with toothpaste and Wednesday morning it looked sooo much better. Swelling went down and the sore was smaller and skin colored so not very noticable. I've been repeating applying nail polish remover all day and its looking better and better. Seriously a life saver! I could not stand having this thing for 2 weeks which is how long they normally take to heal!   Wow Comments By: Christine on 2010-09-28 have had cold sores all my life and i normally jus take lyisine and abreva. I jus applied nail polish remover and omg it stings like hell, but i will try anything right now.   Hmm. Comments By: Anon on 2010-10-02 I had a small coldsore on Wednesday. I put cold sore cream on it then the next day it went. I was well pleased, however the next morning I looked in the mirror and was like ! the cold sore had come back but bigger! I was hiding it all day at school by holding my blazer over my mouth. I had the next day off. Believe me I cried HEAPS. So today (Saturday) I googled all day. I finally found this and I just put the nail polish remover on and I have been waiting i dunno 5 mins? It looks.. red but i THINK it's working. I'm scared to go to sleep because my mum keeps saying it will get bigger and don't expect to have Monday off if it does.   Omg! It actually works Comments By: Ashley on 2010-10-10 Well it's 9:45am the next day and the swelling is has gone down tremendously. I felt the tingly bump around 10ish yesterday.. Burned the hell out of a safety pin rubbed it with alcohol (sanitizing it) and pricked this damn thing.. Squeezed out as much liquid as possible and dabbed toothpaste on it.. While icing it to relieve swelling and putting a tea bag on it to uh ?.. Anyway My Saturday night down the drain... It wasn't until around 5:00am when I googled how the hell do I get of these things as fast as possible.. Decided to try the finger nail polish... It burned like all hell but about ten minutes later the swelling was significantly smaller.. Woke up at like 9:30am and it looks and feels like I could have just bit my lip!!!!! Oh sweet baby Jesus thank you for whoever came up with this idea... Painful but soooo worth it... I do it every time these wretched things come   Cold sores and Sun Comments By: CatTracker on 2010-10-12 I've had the same problems as most of the posters. My cold sore is always on my bottom lip and can become large. Tried all the Dr. prescriptions and abbreva over the years... nothing worked until I tried NPR. It does work! It dries out the sore and speeds the recovery period. My cold sores would usually be a two week ordeal... now at most, a third of that. Prevention - I have found that applying sunscreen lip balm routinely when at the beach or out in the sun really helps prevent cold sores. I rarely get cold sores now after using lip balm with sunscreen. Most every cold sore that I've had was the result of Sun burned lips. Hope this helps others and THanks to the first person who tried NPR!!   MANN I HAVE TO TRY THIS Comments By: Juan on 2010-10-18 I've had cold sores sense i was little and its so embarrasing going to school with a cold sore that i rather skipp school. i really hope this works   THANKU Comments By: Mandy on 2010-10-19 felt the dreaded tingle and was so upset cuz only had an outbreak 2 months ago and thought, oh here I go again. The last 'moved in' for over a week and took over my whole, top lip. So when I read the comments on here I rushed out to get cotton wool balls and NPR. By day 3 the cold sore had tried up and was barely visible. Although the NPR did not stop the outbreak, it speeded the process up and allowed me to go out on a lovely date which I would've had to cancel!!   wowzersss Comments By: herpes on 2010-10-26 I really wish I found this site yesterday when I first got my coldsore. I applied deodorant to my cold sore last night and that just made it worse, I came on here and found out to use nail polish remover and boy does it ever work! I just put it on 10 minutes ago and the swelling has gone done so much.   AWESOME Comments By: Love it on 2010-10-26 I have been suffering from cold sores for over 15 years now and I figured out that what causes mine is acidic foods/drinks like orange juice, the sun, and stress.... so i stopped drinking and eating acidic foods, bought chapstick with sunscreen, but unfortunately i cant rid my life of all the stress so needless to say i still get cold sores every now and again.... I have tried everything imaginable and the nail polish remover is the first thing that has worked for me!!! Try it out!!!   Think it's working Comments By: No lie on 2010-10-28 I had a cold sore for about 1.5 weeks and just the other day, I noticed another one coming. I panicked b/c I've never had two in a row. So I checked some sites, and applied the toothpaste/salt method. Walked around work all day with a white blotch on my face, but I didn't care. By the end of the day, I uncovered it to find an additional bump. I panicked again because all the toothpaste did was irritate it even more. This site is the S#!T. I popped the new bumps with a pin from a new dress shirt, applied hydrogen peroxide, and then nail polish remover. I jammed it in with a cotton swab. About 20 times with each substance in desperation. Feels like bee stings; had to dunk my hand in hot water and do multiple sets of push ups in between to offset the pain. Thanks to everyone who positively contributed feedback to this page. You've saved me two weeks of every year for the rest of my life!   omg gone in 2 days Comments By: :) hehehe CHEESE on 2010-10-30 omg this is AMAZING, i put it on thursday when i first felt the cold sore and now-(sat) u cont even see it-just a small dot   life time sufferer! Comments By: tjnyc on 2010-11-02 I do this ... at very first signs , dip a paper towel in Acetone based NPR and place very gently onto the cold sore. Do not touch or put pressure on it or it will naturally spread . Try to relax - exertion and stressing is the worst thing you can do . take L - Lysine ( I do about 1000 mg every hour ) . take off the paper towell when dry and replace with a newly soaked piece of paper towell. For me this halts the cold sore and speeds the healing time to about 24 hours.   Trying it Comments By: coldsore on 2010-11-02 Well since everyone else seem to try it and it worked, i have a cold sore and im applying nail polish remover now let see if it works....   Trying it Comments By: coldsore on 2010-11-02 Well since everyone else seem to try it and it worked, i have a cold sore and im applying nail polish remover now let see if it works....   WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW Comments By: coldsore GO AWAY on 2010-11-14 Its kinda scary how quick this works!!   My first time trying this Comments By: Mel on 2010-11-14 I never had cold sores until I lived in a dorm with someone who was infected. I must have shared a drink with her when she had one or something. Anyway, I get them now. They usually aren't bad but my lip swells like a mother and huts and tingles. I usually only get one large one instead of multiple little ones. As everyone knows they are terribly embarassing. I wanted to try this home remedy as Abreeva didn't work for me. It's been about two minutes since I applied the nail polish remover and holy hell it burns and smells awful but surprisingly enough the swelling has gone down a lot and it isn't as painful anymore. I'm going to keep doing this today and we'll see what happens but so far I would say give it a try, guys. It actually kind of works.   Yes people, Nail Polish Remover, the miracle cure! Comments By: Anonnymous54... on 2010-11-15 Okay everybody, here is my say...We all have had or are having a cold sore outbreak at the moment...and you're all freaked out right? Well, relax. This will help. It actually really does. I'm writing this because this morning I myself woke up with that tell tale sign...itchy lip...uh oh! I knew it was a cold sore, so I immediately went for the NPR. I use a Q-tip and dip it in the nail polish remover, then apply to my lip, holding it there for a couple of minutes at a time for about 10 minutes. I have found that this is the best method for my situation. Depending on the sensitivity of your lips, use caution, you don't want to burn your lips. As we speak, the cold sore is not even developing on my lip. The NPR seems to have stopped it in it's tracks. This is the norm. If i catch it early enough, the NPR kills it in it's tracks. I will still keep applying the NPR throughout the day just in case. I don't really know how the NPR blocks the virus that causes cold sores, but rest assured, it does. Now, if the cold sore has already ruptured, it will sting like heck, but it will dry it out. The key is to apply it BEFORE it ruptures, preferably at the first signs of an outbreak, I.E. itchy lip, blister beginning to appear. Nail that sucker in it's tracks! So, in conclusion, catch it early if you can. Carry Nail Polish Remover in your car for emergencies. My sister also gets cold sores and didn't know about this method until I told her about it. She loves it and it WORKS! Now, how can you prevent cold sores? Well, here are some tips: 1. Avoid acidic foods or drinks like Tomatoes, Orange juice, lime/lemon juice, Onions etc. research what foods are "acidic" online. Educate yourself, and save yourself alot of discomfort/embarrassment. 2. Try taking a daily supplement such as L-Lysine once a day. I like to take 1,000 milligrams per day. Usually only in the winter, as this is the time I usually have a relapse. L-Lysine fights the virus that causes cold sores by boosting your immune system. This works. Research it. 3. Keep your lips moist in cold/ hot weather to avoid chapped lips, as this is the precursor to an outbreak. I like to use the little round lip baulms with the metal yellow lid you find at 7-elevens. It works wonders. 4. Isolate your cold sore! Throw away your toothbrush as this may keep re-infecting you. Do not kiss anyone or share drinks during an outbreak, that's probably the way you got it in the first place. If you want more information on cold sores, look at this web site, it's a good educational tool: http://m.wikihow.com/Treat-a-Cold-Sore-or-Fever-Blisters So, try this out, good luck and you can beat this okay? Just relax (Stress also causes outbreaks). Stay calm, try this treatment, and look, you are not the only one who gets cold sores okay? There are MANY people out there who also get them, but you don't see them because they do the same thing you do, stay home. It's very common. Good luck to you and I hope this helps ease your panic and stress. You will be better in no time!   Helped so far Comments By: Lil Boss Baby on 2010-11-23 I get cold sores all the time and i break my pockets with abreva. Didnt have any money to purchase the abreva. So i got on the internet. Just today I have tried everything, salt, toothpaste, alcohol. But I continued my search on the internet, and found this site. NPR is awesome. Within minutes of me putting this stuff on, it shrank it. Still waiting to see whats going to happen in the morning.   I put the polish on every 10 mins for 1 hour Comments By: bobbieann on 2010-11-28 The blister burst and now the swelling has went down. I am hoping it will be better in the morning I will post you on Monday.   ITS FREAKIN AMAZINGG! Comments By: ashley on 2010-12-01 Well i started to get a cold sore yesterday and i was sooo emberessed soo i didnt go to school today then i read this and used the nail polish around 11 this mornin and used it twice and it almost all the way gonee. ! it works really goood i swear!   hhhmmm:/ Comments By: Beth.L on 2010-12-11 Im really scared to do it, it sounds really dodgey & I dont want to make it any bigger!? But im gonna try it anyway cause it looks so ugly:/   1. Valtrex 2. NPR 3. Aloe the scab Comments By: the cured! on 2010-12-11 Been using this for years now! I do Valtrex if I have it, and immediately NPR. If it's blistered, the first day I hang home and hold a NPRed q-tip/cotton ball on it for 30 seconds all day every 30 to an hour and take 1000mg of LLysine every hour. It's a scab by night time, which either heals by the next morning(I Aloe it, seems to help a lot) or, if I did not start Valtrex and NPR quickly, it takes another day. 1-3 days beats 7-12 for me!   question Comments By: m.s. on 2010-12-15 does anyone know if vodka does the same?i dont have nail polish and i dont know what to do heeeelp   its perfect Comments By: m.s. on 2010-12-16 it wooooooorks its perfect i m so touched i can cry...   this seems to be working! Comments By: Mandy Smith on 2010-12-26 Ok so i have 6 cold sores that ruined my chistmas day, i look like ive been punched in the mouth so distressed!!! on doing a google search i found this site hmmm apprehensive at first can't look any worse though! so for the past hr ive been applying the npr top lip looks and feels almost as if it will be gone by tomorrow ...still working on the bottom lip but feeling confident about the end results ....will post again in a couple of hrs   Cold sores spreading now Comments By: Ronni on 2010-12-28 I also have been suffering from cold sores since I was a child. Tried the npr and it worked initally, only thing now is that I've broken out all over my lips. I was really careful with the cotton ball - was applying npr for 10 secs every hour - but it still spread! :-(   i hate cold sores....and this seriously works. Comments By: Anon on 2010-12-31 I've been getting cold soars for years and the #1 best solution that works every time is taking L-Lysine pills and nail polish remover. -Take 2 lysine's in the morning afternoon and before bed (recommended when you already have a cold sore) -apply nail polish remover with a cotton ball but be careful not to burn the skin around your lip and put to much on. BESSSST REMEDY, decreased the size and redness within 2 hours.   Seriously it works Comments By: Anon on 2011-01-11 I'm a 22 year old business professional and I have suffered from cold sores my entire life. The nail polish remover is by far the absolute best remedy I have found. It does burn but I'm sure you will be thankful in the end. Also talk to your doctor about a prescription to Valtrex or the knock off brand.   yay! Comments By: goldkitten on 2011-01-20 The nail polish remover seems to have worked in drying up the cold sore. That's a huge releif but now I need a way to get rid of the brown scabs it left before tomorrow as I have a party to go to. Hopefully if I apply some honey it will help. If not, I'm considering drying it up even more with the nail polish remover and then picking it off :/ I know it's not recommended, but I'm desperate...   Finally a good way to get rid of a bad situation, Comments By: Anon on 2011-02-04 Did your cold sore form before you had time to nip it in the butt? Mine did! Normally I just smother my lips with lip balm and Abreeva and take a butt load of oregano oil internally (works like a charm and you can actually feel your lips burning from the inside when you take it...but regardless this stuff is great and this is my first sore in 5 years.) But this time I've got one I can actually pop. Woohoo! Well ok not really woohoo. So I got this bright idea to put nail polish remover on my sore to dry it up, googled it and found this site. Sounds like I'm not the only one with this idea. So far just hours in my sore is barely noticeable. It makes me so excited to know this works so well! Theres already a great deal of anxiety when you feel that little tingle!   Signs are positive Comments By: Jasco on 2011-02-09 It instantly reduced the swelling which is a big relief. Hoping it doesn't spread but does look okay so far. Morning will be the decider.   Pinch me I'm dreaming! Comments By: BobbyNaka on 2011-02-09 IT WORKS! I've been suffering from this horrible virus since I was 8 years old. I have tried EVERYTHING. If I'm lucky the sore will last 4 days, and if I'm not I'm cursed for over a week. I just tried the Nail Polish Remover this morning once I noticed the break out. It started to go in the normal direction for the first 4 hours (becoming swollen, etc), but now 8 hours from when I started, it's shriveling up and decreasing. Success! Of course I'm continuing my normal methods too (Lysine, Abreeva, Peppermint Oil and Vit C).   Have used before - IT WORKS Comments By: BDB on 2011-02-10 I have used this before and know it works - I used to pop it, NPR, then toothpaste. Today I felt it at like 3:00, and just started soaking it with NPR on a q-tip held there for about 1 min and then off for about 5-10 mins - I can't confirm this but I think it will be completely dry in about an hour. Then tonight when I sleep I will toothpaste it, that is the trick - not letting it get re-moisturized that night. Will keep this tab open and re-update in 14 hours when I wake up.   Trying this... Comments By: Anon on 2011-02-11 Just felt 3 cold-sores coming on and have tried dabbing on non-acetone fingernail polish remover - tingles a little. I'll see.   What! Comments By: Lauren on 2011-02-15 Ha, I've been getting cold sores ever since I was a little girl. WHY HAVE I NEVER SEARCHED FOR HOME REMEDIES ON THE INTERNET BEFORE NOW. Nail polish remover really dries the cold sore out so fast! Literally cannot believe it. Last night I felt a tingling on my lip and thourght nothing of it to start with because I've not had a cold sore in about a year. But I woke up this morning and no joke it was HUGE. I was seriously stressing out because I had college. I was far too embarresed to go, so I stayed at home 'ill', haha. Then I stumbled across this little beauty of a tip. I wet a peice of kitchen roll with nail polish remover and held it on my cold sore for about 10 minutes, stung like a bitch, but was so worth it. I noticed a difference instantly and I will be keeping this little trick up all day. Hopefully it will have gone down enough by tomorrow so as I'm not as embarrased to attend school. ALSO just adding my own little tip here, I find that when my cold sore is at is worst. Like right before it dries up, if I take a nice hot shower the steam really sofetens my lips and helps the blisters to pop and scab over much quicker. BUT THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE NAIL POLISH REMOVER TIP.   Wow! Its like a miracle! Comments By: smiling again on 2011-02-23 Been suffering with fever blisters my whole life. They are triggered in my case by too much sun exposure or if I have a head cold and blow my nose a lot. I have tried every otc product including Abreva and it still usually takes a week before it looks better. I tried nail polish remover this time and caught it at the beginning and I have to say this is the first time I've had a fever blister (ewww I hate to even type the words...soo ugly)that I was the only one who knew it was there! This will be my cure from now on! Thanks for sharing this info.   THE TRICK IS TO ONLY USE A LITTLE!!! Comments By: Tried-N-True. on 2011-03-04 i've done it before and it has worked for me once about 3 years ago... here's the thing: if you use alot on your whole lip or if you spread it around or if you keep it on there for too long YOU WILL GET A CHEMICAL BURN. The trick is to do this - soak the tip of a QTIP in the nailpolish remover - Hold the tip to ONLY the blister... DO NOT PUT IT ON THE REST OF YOUR LIP!... - keep it there for 15 to 30 seconds. remove the qtip and let it sit for about 5 minutes. Then dab it lightly with a moist towel and then with a dry towel to dry it. then cover it with abreva. repeat this process once every 1-2 hours. this will be sure that you do not burn yourself with the acetone but will also give it a chance to go to work on your cold sore.   It definitely tingles Comments By: Meri. on 2011-03-24 but it seems to be working*   Comments By: Meri on 2011-03-24 Ok..two q-tips..ok...THREE NOT GOOD. Made my lip swell worse than it was but the sore is dried up :-)....lol..:-(   IT DOESN'T WORK Comments By: HAZEL on 2011-03-07 I WOKE UP THIS MORNING AND IM MORTIFIED BECAUSE MY BIRTHDAY IS IN 2 DAYS. SO I TRIED NAIL POLISH REMOVER BECAUSE IM DESPERATE FOR ANYTHING. IT DID BURN LIKE A BI**T AND IT MADE IT LEAK MORE WHICH IS A GOOD THING BUT NOW IS MORE NOTICEABLE THAN BEFORE. IDK WHAT TO DO   Seriously? I love all you guys. Comments By: Meri. on 2011-03-24 Im sitting here trying the old toothpaste and salt..then a little Abreva method..still looking red and starting to swell. That was from 920 am to 1040 am. I ran into this post and started reading so i immediately washed my face and got my Nail P.R. and a Q-Tip. It had to be about 1040am at 1050 i switched q-tips and i looked at my lip...it looks like there nothing there, granted it was small to begin with because it was the first day. I definitely tingles but i seems to be working. :-)   Amy!!! Comments By: Amy Davis on 2011-03-10 Omg!! This actually works!! I've been having cold sores regulary lately I tried Zovirax doesn't work for me. So in desperation I looked on here. I popped the blister and held a tissue soaked in NPR for a minute or so i am doing this every 15 minutes! Only on the 2nd go and already it seems like it's drying out and not as noticable!! Woo hoo- just wish I knew about this a long time ago! X   hurt and didnt work! Comments By: claire on 2011-03-24 I have a massive cold sore and Ive tried everything Ice, abreva,lysine,witch hazle,and tea tree oil Nothing worked its been so swollen and i have multiple sores so as a last resort i tried nail polish remover and it got worse. I'm not sure how its supposed to work I'm guessing the acetone is supposed to dry out the open sores but the swelling got worse and it hurt like hell.   Fingers crossed Comments By: Nick on 2011-03-27 Please let this work im planning on kissing this girl I really like sometime this week so I hope this nail polish works   I can't believe it worked.... Comments By: SoHappy on 2011-04-07 Okay- I think I read every comment on this site (and others) before taking my nailpolish remover out from under my sink. I have used every medication, cream, oitment, you name it, to get rid of these nasty things and THIS is actually the only thing that completely got rid of the swelling, the redness, the pus (sorry gross, I know). A few tips: -Rubbing Alcohol and Peroxide DO NOT WORK. I've tried both. I don't know why the nailpolish remover does- i guess the chemicals in prohibit the virus from growing. -It only stings for the first 7 seconds, then it goes away. -Don't put anything on your lip afterwards, let it dry out -DO NOT pop the blister!! You don't need to, it will dry it out regardless and it heals faster if you do not irritate it Those who are still skeptical- I have both Valtrex and Acyclovir on a regular refill and am a firm beliver in modern day medicine. I did this out of pure deperation since I am about to go on a huge business trip to NYC. I don't know why it works, but it does.   Skipped school cause of these Comments By: Nick on 2011-03-28 Well I tried the nail polish yesterday & today lets hope it kill these 2day   I hope this works! Comments By: Lzbth on 2011-03-30 Ok I have what I now realise is a cold sore! I have never had one before so it has got quite bad before I realised what it was! I am desperate to get rid of what feels like an extra person satin my lip! I hope this works! I'll check back in and let u no   Being doing this for over 15 years.. Comments By: MarkB on 2011-04-18 Yeah this works fine, always has. However, I'm slightly mystified about the comments where people are constantly dabbing the cold sores with the cotton bud/q-tip "all night/all day' etc. All you have to do is soak a cotton bud/q-tip in the nail polish remover and dab at the cold sore - don't bother breaking the scab as the scab will absorb the NPR and will act as a sponge for the NPR. Do this about 4-5 times per day and you will see results the next day. Don't expect the cold sore to magically disappear the same day so applying lots and lots of NPR will result in a burnt lip.   LIfe Changing Experience with NPR!!! Comments By: CJ on 2011-04-18 I have had outbreaks of coldsores my entire life. When I found out about NPR, I was excited because all OTC medications have failed for me. If you can catch the coldsore at the first sign, use NPR and your coldsore will disappear or will stay small. DO NOT pop the sore because it will get irritated. Personally, I popped a cold sore and put NPR on it and it burned like crazy. Then I suffered from chemical burn which took over 2 weeks to heal. If your coldsore has already turned into a blister, just be patient and apply NPR on it every hour. DO NOT over use it. You will notice swelling to go down almost immediately. So in conclusion, NPR does work. If you catch it in beginning stages, such as when it first starts to tingle, it will not continue to form into a huge blister. If it has already blistered, Apply NPR but DO NOT pop it because it will burn and slow down healing process. Learn from my mistake!!!   So far so good Comments By: Sherry *NavySister* on 2011-04-27 After waking up with a cold sore yesterday morning and my brothers welcome home party from deployment being a few days away, I was desperate for a miracle cure. Ive been doing the nail polish thing since last night and it really does take the pain away and make the swelling go down. Im still waiting to wake up and it be gone but time will tell. I will surely recommend this to people.   ;D Comments By: Kay on 2011-05-11 Im trying it right now and its already brought my swelling and little puffiness down! im soo happy! this idea is genius. Take my word for it.. try it! I just got it yesterday and ive already tried the ice which didnt work that much. But the nail polish remoover is definetly a must!   Surprisingly Effective Comments By: anon on 2011-04-29 So I've never gotten a cold sore before a coupe of days ago, started pretty small (a bit of dryness on the corner of my mouth with some tingling) - didn't want to pay for abreva so I tried putting garlic on it and also loaded it up with moisturizer overnight, woke up with it bigger and scabbed. Have a date today at 1 so woke up this morning so desperate for a cure, was a bit hesitant about this one - I started putting nail polish remover on it at around 8:50, reapplied about every 15 minutes, now 10:00 and my cold sore feels better, looks smaller and has dried enough that I think I'll be able to cover it up with makeup later. Definitely would recommend this treatment!!   Ouch! Comments By: Vickstarr! on 2011-05-24 I Got my coldsaw 2 days ago and ive tryed every thing about 10mins ago i jus put nail varnish remover on,it burns like crazy but i think it will do the job! :)   it really does work Comments By: Shelby on 2011-06-27 okay, im just a 15 year old girl. And you can only imagine how emmbarrassing it is to have a cold sore. Its like im afraid to go into public. And i have tried everything. I first popped the blisters and then put toothpaste with armorall in it. It dried it out within an hour!! after that i applied abreva.. hours later i than used nail polish and it literally made the sore smaller and could be easily covered by make up!! i would reccommend this!!!   Scary Comments By: Amber on 2011-07-28 My cold sore reared its head when I was sleeping at my boyfriend's house (I know, amazing timing), I've been having them every week for 6 weeks now, the worst was the first one which made my whole top lip swell really badly. I just tried the nail varnish remover method on one I've recently gotten on my bottom lip. It hurt (I could stand it though) but I did it while looking in the mirror and when I took it away from the sore it had dried out but it completely looked like it had taken the pigment out of my lip - I only had it on there for a maximum of two minutes. Obviously I panicked and didn't put it on anymore. I've now got Zovirax on it and I am going to take a 1000mg Lysine pill. It's not a big sore but I'm seeing my boyfriend again tomorrow so I wanted it gone. My tip is everyone's different, monitor how it's going and if it appears to be making it worse immediately cease the treatment. Acetone is toxic so obviously not meant to be put on skin, I guess it works for some people but it can be really harmful...   Well that's different... Comments By: Lily on 2011-08-02 Well I was debating on using nail polish considering its not something you would expect. I started using it about an hour ago and I also popped it with a sterilised needle. Its amazing how that stuff works. I stings alot but I just thought the wholoe time "it's worth it" im going to bed soon, leaving for california the day after tomorow and really happy that itll be gone, I was really worried having to spend my vacation with this ugly huge thing on my lip. thanks!   Nail Polish Remover Comments By: mary on 2011-08-28 This burns!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm doing it right now!! AMAZING RESULTS!!! Â