I use lip balm a lot. (My fave is Burt’s Bees Replenishing formula).
But right now, I have a cold sore on my lower lip.
I’ve been using my lip balm while the cold sore “bloomed” (I thought at first that I’d bitten off a bit of skin there, and that’s what was hurting), and am still using it (cold sore full-swing).
So when this blemish goes away, do I have to toss this tube of lip balm, or is it enough to slice off the top cm or so?
Mods: I don’t know if this question has a factual answer; if it needs to be moved, please be so kind as to do so!
I’d guess that slicing the top off the balm would be fine - lip balm’s cheap though isn’t it? Just getting a new stick wouldn’t hurt, given the general hassle of cold sores. I get them now and again - I don’t find them too big a deal in themselves, it’s more not being able to give my wife or kid a kiss for 2 weeks that aggravates.
Do you use acyclovir? Marketed as zovirax in the UK - it does work IME if you get it on early enough at the first tingle. I also have one of those cold sore zappers, but not really used it enough to make up my mind if it works.
I’m thinking no. Once you have the herpes simplex virus, you have it. When you get a cold sore, it just means the virus has become active. You’re not going to reinfect yourself with herpes simplex, because you never get rid of it.
I’ve never even wiped off, much less cut off or thrown away, my lip balm after I’ve used it on a cold sore. And I’ve never had a new cold sore start up from applying the lip balm, which I also use when no sore is present.
Viruses are not hardy out of their favored environment, and I don’t see how the virus can survive on that medium.
The appearance of cold sores is generally triggered by stress factors rather than direct application of the virus. Note that the sores start from under the skin, not from its surface.
I see no reason for any concern over the lip balm.
I would toss it. I found if I go into the sun (like sunbathing) I will get a cold sore. But it always is on the same part. My lower right. I found that if I didn’t change lip balm, I could then transfer it all over my lip. To my lower left, where I’ve never had one before.
It’s not really a matter of giving yourself or others the virus. Estimates are by age 5 90% - 95% of all Americans already have the virus for cold sores, it’s a herpes virus.
But when the virus is active it can infect people and cause outbreaks.
So if I have a cold sore and kiss someone, who’s had cold sores before, I can transfer my herpes virus to them. Even though they’ve had the virus and it’s still in the system, it can reactivate and start a new place on the lip for the virus to take hold.
Unless you have some immunity illness (like HIV) cold sores are no big deal, but they can hurt and cause embarrassment.
I would simply toss the stick out. At minimum slice a part off.
Also FYI, I found Abbreva does actually work BUT you have to use it right from the start, even before the cold store starts. You use it when you feel the tingling. If you see more than “three or four ‘buds’” from the cold sore, it’s too late for Abbreva.
A friend of mine gets cold sores. So she has ‘herpes’. But does she have ‘Herpes’? That is, if someone has herpes, we normally think of genital herpes. Are cold sores and ‘herpes’ herpes the same thing?
Usually, the herpes outbreaks (cold sores) on the face are Herpes Simplex type I, and on the genital area Herpes Simplex type II, but either can actually be anywhere on the body. I’ve heard about 80% of the population have at least type I, and 20-30% type II. I don’t think most people feel obligated to disclose that they have type I, when almost everyone else does, too.
And another question to add to the mix for any medical type that is inclined to come in and clear all this up: I’m a herpes I person (get a cold sore on the lip about once a year or so).
But if it’s a virus that’s just sitting dormant in the body, laying in wait to come bursting out when the body is weak (triggered by… “stress” or whatever), why do I get one, and not a full blown outbreak, with three or four across my lip? And why can’t my body just eliminate the fucker once and for all? I mean, I have an immunity that can fight virii, right? And if it’s such a persisitent, resistant little bugger, why doesn’t its prevalence in the population mean that 100% of people get it eventually?
I don’t know why it usually comes in a single lesion and not several, but I do know that it will often go away after several years, or at least you can stop getting the outbreaks. Both types can be treated with antivirals either episodically or daily, and the daily treatment greatly reduces the chance your partner will become infected. Also, I’ve found OTC Abreva excellent at stopping an outbreak in its tracks- very impressive.
For those wondering, I’ve known for years I had the herpes virus; no surprise there. In fact, one tiny cold sore a couple of weeks before my wedding, spread because of stress. Before I knew it, I had hundreds of those bastards, all in my mouth and down my throat! (Yes, that is every bit as unpleasant as it sounds!) My husband (well, fiance at the time) and I went to a doctor; the doctor said “Well, it’s a virus, there’s really nothing we can do about it. . .” until we told her we were due to marry in less than two weeks. Then she said “Well, there is a drug, but it’s still experimental, and it’s expensive. . .” I’ll say it was expensive! Three pills a day, three bucks a pill! And this was more than 21 years ago! Guess what? It worked. It was Acyclovir!
I know the Abreva works if you catch it at the first ‘tingle’. My hubby (lucky fellow he is, I passed it on to him before I knew I had it!) gets far more frequent cold sores than I do. He gets maybe three a year. I get one every couple of years. He keeps a tube of Abreva in his toiletries bag.
But really, when this first started hurting, I thought it was just a place I had absent-mindedly pulled some dead skin off of by biting at it. My lips get crazy dry in the winter.
Anyway, yes, lip balm is cheap, even the Burt’s Bees. It’s not like I can’t afford to replace it.
A tenant of mine sells Avon, and I just placed an order tonight. Part of that order was some lip conditioner.
I guess safe is better than sorry and when the Avon order comes in, I’ll trash this tube of balm.
OP I asked my doctor the same question a couple years ago (well, almost the same question, mine was to do with lipstick) and her reply was that it hadn’t actually been determined. But, her recommendation was either not to use it while I had the cold sore, or not to reuse it afterwards.
That said, I ignored her advice the last time I got a cold sore, and I’ve reused the lipstick several times since with no adverse consequences.
Little nitpick: The (English) plural of “virus” is simply “viruses”.
As for the OP’s question: I’m a junior virologist (not a herpes virologist, though) and as far as I know, freckafee and GaryT are right. Neither is the herpes virus very stable, nor should reinfection be an issue here.
I was in my late 40s when I was infected with HSV 1. A blood test can determine if you have HSV antibodies. If you don’t, you’ve never been infected. If you do, you have the virus but are asymptomatic.
Here is a good article on HSV 1 and 2. While it’s true that you can have either virus orally or genitally, each one has its own “preferred” location and is not as virulent when it’s out of place.
Missed the edit window. More on antibody testing: If you are tested and don’t have antibodies, it’s also possible that you’re within about a six-week window of initial infection, because it takes that long to develop antibodies.
Well, from what I’ve read, I’m not in any great danger from continuing to use the lip balm even after the sore is gone completely. However, it does seem like the jury is still out, and a $5.00 tube of lip balm, at this point in my life, is not going to ping my financial radar enough to make it worth the risk.
alice-in-wonderland, I have been told (by a doctor) that if you have had chicken pox (say, as a child), the virus is in your nerve endings and can very easily turn into herpes 1 or 2. But I was told by another doctor that that’s BS.
However, if you never had chicken pox or any kind of herpes-related lesions, it’s quite possible you really are herpes-free. Lucky you!
Not that my herpes-positive status is something that impacts my life on a frequent basis. But when it does, it’s painful, unpleasant, just one more thing to deal with!