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Symptoms
By Mayo Clinic staff
Cold sore symptoms include:
- Small, painful, fluid-filled blisters on a raised, red area of your skin, typically around the mouth
- Pain or tingling, called the prodrome, which often precedes the blisters by one to two days
- Usual duration of 10 to 14 days
Cold sores most commonly appear on your lips. Occasionally, they occur on your nostrils, chin or fingers. And, although it's unusual, they may occur inside your mouth — more often on your gums or the roof of your mouth. Sores appearing on other soft tissues inside your mouth, such as the inside of the cheek or the undersurface of the tongue, may be canker sores but aren't usually cold sores.
Signs and symptoms may not start for as long as 20 days after exposure to the herpes simplex virus, although it's more typical for sores to appear within about one week of exposure. Sores usually clear up within about two weeks. The blisters form, break and ooze. Then a yellow crust forms and finally sloughs off to uncover pinkish skin that heals without a scar.
When to see a doctor
Cold sores generally clear up on their own without treatment. However, see your doctor if:
- You have a pre-existing health condition that has compromised your immune system
- The cold sores don't heal within one to two weeks on their own
- Symptoms are severe
- You have frequent recurrences of cold sores
- You experience irritation in your eyes
- Herpes simplex. American Academy of Dermatology. http://www.aad.org/public/publications/pamphlets/viral_herpes_simplex.html. Accessed Jan. 8, 2010.
- Klien RS. Clinical manifestations and diagnosis of herpes simplex virus type 1 infection. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Jan. 8, 2010.
- Klien RS. Treatment and prevention of herpes simplex virus type 1 infection. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Jan. 8, 2010.
- Ferri FF. Herpes simplex. In: Ferri FF. Ferri's Clinical Advisor 2010. St. Louis, Mo.: Mosby; 2009. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/177412534-3/0/2088/299.html. Accessed Jan. 8, 2010.
- Oral-labial herpes simplex. In: Habif TP. Habif: Clinical Dermatology. 4th ed. St. Louis, Mo.: Mosby; 2006. http://www.mdconsult.com/book/player/book.do?method=display&type=bookPage&decorator=header&eid=4-u1.0-B978-0-7234-3541-9..00021-3--s0380&uniq=177412534&isbn=978-0-7234-3541-9&sid=936136390#lpState=open&lpTab=contentsTab&content=4-u1.0-B978-0-7234-3541-9..00021-3--s0370%3Bfrom%3Dcontent%3Bisbn%3D978-0-7234-3541-9%3Btype%3DbookPage. Accessed Jan. 8, 2010.
- Klien RS. Epidemiology of herpes simplex virus type 1 infection. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Jan. 8, 2010.
- Gibson LE (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. Jan. 12, 2010.
- Benzocaine topical products: Sprays, gels and liquids — risk of methemoglobinemia. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. http://www.fda.gov/Safety/MedWatch/SafetyInformation/SafetyAlertsforHumanMedicalProducts/ucm250264.htm. Accessed Apr. 8, 2011.
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