Do you see some small blisters on your lips and around your mouth? If yes, you are the host of some viruses that cause cold sores. If you want to find out what cold sore is and the important facts related to it, follow along.

Cold sores or fever blisters are small blisters that pop out at the lips or around the mouth. The skin with blisters usually becomes swollen, red and sore. Blisters start to break open few days after they developed, release transparent fluid, and scab few more days later. The disease begins to heal after the maximum period of two weeks.

The virus that causes cold sores is herpes simplex virus which has two types: HSV-1 and HSV-2. This type of virus is also responsible for the development of genital herpes in some people.

Herpes simplex virus can enter the body when there is a break in the skin or inside the mouth. The virus can be quickly transmitted to another person by kissing, using the utensils, and touching the saliva of an infected person.

As the viruses develop in their host, the first symptoms develop too which are pain in the mouth or lips, fever, sore throat, and swollen glands in the neck and other body parts. After the blisters appear, cold sores break open, producing a fluid, then scab few days later and the person get healed after two weeks.

cold sore blister are not difficult to be determined by any doctor. Most of the time, doctors ask few questions to find out how the virus got into the body. Aside from this simple diagnostic procedure, no complex diagnostic tests will be conducted.

Normally, cold sores are healed after two weeks. However, the disease can make the infected person ashamed and the pain brought by the disease is quite irritating. To get rid of these, there are treatments which include skin creams, ointments and pills readily available in drug stores. The treatments can heal the disease two days faster and ease the pain caused by blisters.

Despite the treatments for cold sores, the virus that causes it stays in the body forever. In other words, cold sores brought by herpes simplex virus cannot be completely healed. Treatments can only reduce the number of sores but cannot prevent the virus from developing more sores.

Hence, preventive measures must be taken for those who are virus-free. Refraining from coming in contact with an infected person and using the same things he uses are good preventive measures. Moreover, improving the immune system by having nutritious foods in every meal is also effective because the virus cannot develop inside the body where there are agents to combat it.