What Causes Cold Sores

What is cold sore and what causes it?

Cold sores are small, painful blisters with reddish bottom and white head. They are very painful in nature. It is, generally, caused by a virus termed Herpes Simplex Virus – I. If an individual comes in contact with the person suffering from cold sore then the other person may also tend to get the same. The worst part of cold sore is that this disease is never completely cured, it appears at regular intervals.

The cold sores look very ugly and dirty and apart from that, it is very painful too. An individual suffering from Cold sore cannot mix up with people because many people tend to avoid people with cold sore as cold sore is a contagious disease.

What Causes Cold sore?

Cold sore is contagious in nature and hence, it spreads to another person by way of physical contact. Few causes of cold sore are as follows: -

1. If an individual from the family is suffering from cold sore then there are increased possibilities that even other people in the family may get the same.
2. Using the utensils, towel or razor of the person suffering from cold sore causes cold sore to the other person also.
3. If an individual is suffering from cold sore then kissing the person can be infectious as even if an individual doesn’t kiss the affected area, the virus spreads to nearby places thus, causing cold sore to the person kissing.
4. If a person is already suffering from cold sore then he or she may get blisters if the stress level increases and this, generally, happens during exams, marriage or any other important event.
5. Cold sore may appear on the surface of the skin when an individual is exposed to lot of ultra-violet rays.
6. Females tend to get cold sores during their menstruation period as at that point of time, there is a change in the hormones of the female.

Prevention of cold sore

It is always better to prevent cold sore rather than taking treatment. Few methods of prevention are as follows: -

1. Eat proper diet that is not suitable for herpes virus to take hostage in the cells of the body.
2. Avoiding physical contact with people who are suffering from cold sore.
3. Even if any individual tends to get in physical contact with the person suffering from cold sore then he or she needs to wash his or her hand at the earliest before touching any part of his or her body.