Scarring Issue. Need help.

Unfortunately,

I’m one of the few and lucky people who gets oral herpes outbreaks (around 5 per year). The worst part is that I was fucking born with the virus and it’s not like I even slept around to contract it (this fact remains despite the jokes I am the brunt of). It sucks, and I’ve come to terms with how bad it sucks many a time.

I’m not here to cry about this or that though. I simply want some feedback from you guys about how I can reduce the redness of where my coldsores have been. I recently recovered from one that was maybe 3 weeks ago and it left a pretty obvious red mark behind. I’m curious of how I can reduce this redness and avoid scarring.

I actually have had a coldsore where this red mark is BEFORE this last cold sore (go figure I’ve had cold sores in the same place numerous times). The spot was a tiny bit red from past cold sores that had healed up but it wasn’t anything too noticeable. The red mark that’s there now is plenty more noticeable (and I’m aware it’s probably still healing) but I’d like to reduce the redness as much as possible.

Please any help would be worth it. Does anyone share my experiences? I heard vitamin E is supposed to help… anything else?

Hobby mentioned arnica as a way to reduce scarring, one of the later posts in in 8-balls picture thread. No idea if it’s applicable to your situation.

I read a book like 15 years ago about research on household cures, and one thing was about cold sores and the compounds in (predominantly) red wine, the coloring chemicals I think. The concept was that the chemicals were antiviral, and the way to do it was to take a fullbodied italian wine and let it evaporate until you only got a sticky residue left - this residue consists of concentrated whatever (I forget the term) and the residue is dabbed onto the cold sores as a topical agent. The residue - once produced - can be stored in a fridge. Look around on the net and see if you find something - the price of making your own is that of a decent red wine.

If you got a lot of money, you can take medication to prevent outbreaks. There’s 2 types of treatment, you should google “herpes treatment”.

Thanks for the responses guys.

Mgus that sounds interesting I’ll check it out.

I have perscription stuff that never works. I’ve researched with that google search more than a hundred times… I’ve found lots of treatments and remedies but not one that specifically works well for me. I feel as though my lip is still really red after the cold sore is gone BECAUSE I was using one of those online home remedies that irritated it.

I take lysine tablets everyday… These help prevent outbreaks, but I’m curious about removing the red that is left over, preventing scarring.

I’ve heard of people who get redness from acne who use aloe vera, which has ‘mannose-6-phosphate’ in it. Apparently in some it is very good for getting rid of the redness.

Have you tried that?

No I havn’t… Where can I get some?

If it is a virus, if it is herpes it is a virus. Try a natural anti-viral that would be olive leaf extract. Take it by mouth.

Ask your local pharmacist

If it’s bad, have you thought about camouflage?

Something like this microskin technology that is not out of Australia yet:

Hmmm.. Thanks

Ah, here we go: Web Page Under Construction

This one tells you were to get the olive stuff too, and also refers to the same study as above:Herpes.Org: Herpes: A non-profit website providing information, support, advice, and support for people with herpes (HSV, HSV1, HSV2) and other sexually transmitted diseases (STD). Features the Herpes Webring, Ask the Doctor about Herpes, ask the counsellor about Herpes, the Herpes Lobby, Herpes Chat, Herpes mailling lists, and more.

I’m not sure I found where to get the olive leaf extract from… I checked out that site but I’m not sure it said exactly where…

I’ll try the wine idea out.

I just wanna thank everyone for their resposnes, be they scar removal or actual herpes treatments.

Okay, so in terms of actual scarring/redness removal…

Arnica, but we’re not sure if that really would work.
Aloe Vera, I’ll look into that more (I actually have some, not sure how much it’ll help though).
and Camflouge but that’s only in Austrailia.

Any other ideas? More options would be better probably.

And Jackdaniel,
“If you got a lot of money, you can take medication to prevent outbreaks. There’s 2 types of treatment, you should google “herpes treatment”.”

What are the 2 treatments specifically? I did that google search but found a whole lotta shit, most of which I’ve tried (but I still get 4 or 5 outbreaks per year). Also, I know lack of sleep is basically a free ticket to herpes outbreak land but lack of sleep is something I have to deal with in my life…

As far as I know you can only get olive extract from thr health food store. It is an anti viral.Anti bacterial, anti fungal, anti proatozoa.