In a perfect world, everyone would prefer to have tip top health and constant clear skin rather than reaching for the cold sore treatment every other week and getting monthly outbreaks. This, however, is not the case for many people. The nature of a busy lifestyle means we're all susceptible to be being run down. And, it seems, that unlike spots and other ailments, cold sores have a social stigma attached to them that makes sufferers even more embarrassed.
Perhaps it is because the medical name for the virus is Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 – with Type 2 being the genital virus - and the obvious connotations. Or, possibly, the ease of spreading cold sores may present a reluctance for non-sufferers to be in close proximity to people with them - creating extra shame for the cold sore sufferer.
As a result, people feel increasingly embarrassed when they have a cold sore – they even have their own page on Channel 4's Embarrassing Bodies website.
While we agree that the discomfort of cold sores is (literally) a pain, we think the embarrassment that accompanies them is unwarranted and unhelpful. Many people catch the infection as children and in 2015 the World Health Organisation estimated that 3.7 billion people under the age of 50 carried the infection.* Not all those infected will be conscious of it, but with such a high percentage of the population carrying HSV-1, it seems ridiculous to feel so self-conscious.
Next time you feel that tingling feeling, don't be embarrassed – just reach for your cold sore treatment, there's millions of others in the same boat.
* http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2015/herpes/en/
