Can you get cold sores in your nose? Are cold sores on the nose always a sign of herpes? How can you heal a cold sore in the nose fast? Find out more in this article.
If you are wondering if you can get a cold sore inside the nose, the answer is a big fat yes. Most people get cold sores on the mouth, the lips, specifically. However cold sores can still affect other parts of the face like the cheeks and the nose, both inside and outside. In some rare cases, cold sores can also affect the fingers. Cold sores are also known as fever blisters.
Symptoms of a cold sore in nose
A cold sore can appear inside the nose, or at the base of the nostril. It will start as a slightly uncomfortable tingling or burning and progress to a red or yellow fluid-filled blister that eventually crusts over in a couple of days.
The blister and the crusty scab it leaves behind can be quite painful. Cold sore blisters are visibly raised from the rest of the surface and are very soft to touch.
The sores usually look like a cluster of blisters, if you pay close attention. Once you remove the crusty scab left by the sore, you notice a scar where new skin is forming.
You may notice crusty scabs around your nostrils and inside the nose if you have cold sores in your nose.
Some people get one cold sore in a lifetime; others may get them up to several times a year.
As uncomfortable as it may be, a cold sore inside the nose is not life-threatening. It can be pretty serious though in people pre-existing conditions that compromise their immunity like HIV or cancer.
Typically a cold sore lasts for between 7-14 days, that is from the minute it is just an annoying little tingly spot to when it is a fully-fledged burst blister in the nose.
What causes cold sores on the nose
You may have heard someone mention that cold sores are caused by herpes. This is true. Cold sores are caused by an infection of the herpes virus. What may not have been broken down for you is that the strain of herpes that causes cold sores is on the nose and mouth is very different from the one that causes genital herpes.
Cold sores on the nose and indeed anywhere on above the waist are usually caused by HSV-1 while the sexually transmitted herpes are caused by HSV-2.
While nose herpes and really other herpes sore on the face are often the HSV-1, it is not unheard of for one to contract HSV-2 through oral sex and get herpes sores. A person may also get sores from contracting HSN 1 through oral sex with someone who had it. When this happens, then a person may have a cold sore on the nose or lips from the sexually transmitted herpes and another may have sores on the genitalia from hsv1.
How do you get cold sores under the nose?
Here are a few important facts about how you get cold sores.
The virus that gives us nose cold sore is highly contagious. Most people get it by coming into close contact with someone who has a cold sore. The primary kinds of contacts that spread cold sores are kissing, sharing food and drinks with an infected person. Cold sores are infectious even when you cannot see them.
Because the virus is spread by close contact, most of us are infected when we are very young, as early as infancy. Infection does not always mean you get a cold sore immediately.
The virus is known to lie dormant for up to 20 days from when you were exposed before giving you a cold sore.ing.
The most contagious period is when a person has an active blister-like sores. Once the blisters have dried and crusted over (within a few days), the risk of contagion is significantly lessened. However, a person infected with HSV can pass it on to another person even when a cold sore is not present. This is because the virus is sometimes shed in saliva even when sores are not present.
After the cold sore heals, the virus goes dormant for a long time before a trigger sets it off again and you get another cold sore inside the nose.
For some, the cold sore virus will stay dormant for a long time, meaning they rarely actually get the cold sores in or on their nose.
However, some people get only a short reprieve before the fever blister reappears on the nose.
Here are some of the more common triggers of cold sores
1. Fatigue
Fatigue and stress can trigger cold sores on the nose or mouth.
2. Hormonal changes
This triggers cold sores on the nose in women. Changes in hormone levels are responsible for cold sores inside the nose during pregnancy in some women and also during menstruation.
3. Cold weather
Many people complain of cold sores on their noses in colder weather
Sunlight and trauma are also thought to trigger cold sores in the nose.
Effective Cold sore on nose treatment
Cold sores generally are temporary afflictions that will go away without any intervention. However, they are uncomfortable, can be quite painful for some people.
Because humans we humans do not handle discomfort well, there exist several ways to reduce the worst of a cold sore in the nose.
One thing you may need to do to help the cold sore inside your nose heal faster is to avoid touching it. Also always wash your hands in case you get tempted to touch it to ensure you do not spread the sore anywhere else on the face or body, not to mention to other people. Here are the best ways to treat a cold sore in the nose.
1. Medication
You cannot completely cure a person of the HSV-1 virus, which causes cold sores. Once you are infected, it is for life. However, there is medication to help fight the nasal cold sore itself. Buzzle says “As the causal pathogen is a virus, the obvious treatment for cold sores in the nose is administering antiviral medications. Based on the pathology and overall disease condition, the doctor may recommend any of these oral drugs, acyclovir, famciclovir and valacyclovir. Also, topical ointments will be prescribed to treat sores in the nose.”
Some people take lysine for cold sores. Lysine a supplement made of amino acids that can be taken orally or applied directly on the skin. Lysine is used for preventing and treating cold sores (caused by the virus called herpes simplex labialis).
It is thought that lysine stops the virus from replicating. You can read more about lysine and cold sores here.
2. Home remedies for nose cold sores
Here are a few simple remedies you can use to treat a nose cold sore.
a) Icepacks
This will be useful in reducing the soreness on both sores that are on the top surface of the nose or under the nose or inside the nostril. To apply this remedy, simply wrap an ice cube in a clean cotton cloth and hold on cold sore site for some minutes. The numbing effect will bring relief especially if the sore is really painful. You can repeat this remedy several times a day.
b) Tea tree Oil
Tea tree oil comes through for most home remedies because it is anti-everything. That means, anti-fungal, bacterial and also has anti-viral properties. It, therefore, figures that some people have found it effective in treating cold sores on their noses.
Mix a couple of drops of tea tree oil with a carrier oil that does not irritate your skin and apply this mixture on the cold sore twice a day for fast relief.