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Definition
By Mayo Clinic staffThe scenario is all too familiar: You feel a tingling on your lip and a small, hard spot that you can't yet see. Sure enough, in a day or two, red blisters appear on your lip. It's another cold sore, probably happening at a bad time, and there's no way to hide it or make it go away quickly.
Cold sores — also called fever blisters — are quite different from canker sores, a condition people sometimes associate with cold sores.
Cold sores are common. Though you can't cure or prevent cold sores, you can take steps to reduce their frequency and to limit the duration of an occurrence.
