Without treatment, a cold sore can take up to around 12 days to heal. That is a long time to spend in discomfort. Thankfully, Herstat can help relieve some of the uncomfortable symptoms of a cold sore, such as dry, cracked, and sore lips.
The stages of a cold sore
If you don't treat a cold sore you are likely to experience the following symptoms during an outbreak:
- Day 0-1: A tingling sensation on the edge of your lip – this is caused by the replication of the HSV-1 virus;
- Day 2-3: At this point, a blister usually develops – this occurs because the epithelial cells from which the skin is made become infected. This is usually the most painful stage of an outbreak;
- Day 3-6: At around this time blisters will turn into ulcers and begin to weep – this takes place when the epithelial cells are destroyed by the virus. At this point a cold sore is at its most contagious;
- Day 6-9: From this stage onwards, the lesion is no longer developing but healing. Cold sore ulcers should begin to form scabs;
- Day 9-12: Eventually the scabs will fall off and the new skin that has formed to heal the wound will be revealed. It might take a few days for it to look like the rest of your skin.
Herstat – help with relieving cold sore symptoms
During trials Herstat Lip Care Ointment was tested alongside a placebo. Herstat helped relieve cold sore symptoms, on average, 3.5 days faster than the placebo.
'Healing', in this case, was defined as 'time to normal skin', whereas in many other studies conducted using other products, it was defined as 'time to loss of crust'.
Before it was revealed to participants whether they had used Herstat or a placebo during the trial, they were asked how effective the two products had been. Only 5.7% and 11.4% of the placebo group stated 'very effective' and 'somewhat effective' respectively. The rest of this group believed their product to be 'hardly effective' or 'ineffective'. In comparison, 81.8% of those using Herstat thought the product was 'very effective' and the remaining 18.2% thought it was 'somewhat effective'.
Whilst still unaware of whether they had used Herstat or a placebo, participants were also asked whether they would use the product again. A resounding 93.9% of the Herstat group said they would, whilst 94.3% of the placebo group said they wouldn't.
Try Herstat for yourself
To help alleviate the symptoms of a cold sore, you should apply Herstat Lip Care Ointment from the onset of symptoms or at least as soon as possible. Herstat will still help to relieve the symptoms of cold sore even if applied during the later stages of an outbreak by temporarily preventing skin from becoming dry and helping to stop the lips from cracking or becoming sore - all common symptoms associated with a cold sore outbreak.
Please visit our products page to read more about Herstat and purchase a tube today.