Fever blisters, otherwise known by cold sores are something that is caused from the herpes simplex virus. They are very small and painful blisters or sores that are filled with fluid. There are six places that they’d appear:

• Lips
• Throat
• Mouth
• Chin
• Nose
• Cheek

The cold sores, or oral herpes, are actually quite common. It’s actually estimated that around 80% of the population has at one point been exposed to HSV1 or the herpes simplex virus.

There are some things that will precede the blisters by around 1-2 days and those are:

• Pain
• Itching
• Tingling

It’s not recommended that you have any sexual contact during this time, which includes oral to oral as well as vaginal or anal. It’s very risky to do so. The virus spreads through person to person contact through sexual intercourse, kissing, or other close contact with the stores or you can even transfer through skin that appears normal that is shedding the virus. In order to be contagious you don’t have to be symptomatic. Also you could be shedding asymptomatically. Another means of transmitting the virus is infected saliva.

Finger herpes, herpes whitlow, is most often contracted through the touching of cold sores. You need to make sure you’re practicing good hygiene by washing your hands immediately after you touch a cold sore or another sensitive area that is in the prodromal stage in order to prevent your spreading of the virus to other parts of your body or to others. The virus can be killed easily through just washing with soap and water.

Oral herpes is something that can be caused by either HSV1 or HSV2 but most typically the HSV1 is going to be located above the waist. Genital herpes is most often caused by HSV2 and is most often going to be found below the waist.

The reoccurring outbreaks are akin to the initial infection. The only difference is that they will get milder in time. Reoccurrences of oral herpes is usually going to involve only the lips, the mouth and the throat will be involved to a much lesser extent. Some of the factors that could induce an outbreak would be the following:

• Surgery
• Illness
• Stress
• Fatigue
• Skin irritation
• Diet
• Menstruation
• Alcohol

A good way to stave off the outbreaks is by increasing your lysine. There are many helpful products out there that can help you to both manage and also shorten the length of your outbreaks. Through being aware and working to avoid the causes and also through the use of preventative products you’ll be able to potentially do a lot to reduce your reoccurrences.

It’s important that you don’t confuse cold sores with canker sores, they aren’t the same. A cold sore is going to mostly occur on the outer lip but the canker sore is going to be found mostly on the inside of the mouth. People will often mistake a canker sore for a cold sore. Oral herpes is something that usually will appear on the roof of the mouth or in the gum area. Any sore that is in the soft tissue of the mouth is usually always going to be a canker sore.