Home Remedies for Treating Fever Blisters

Fever blisters or cold sores are painful lesions that commonly appear on the lips, cheeks, chin or nostrils because of a herpes infection. They usually turn into yellow-crusted sores and disappear after a couple of weeks. There is no permanent cure for fever blisters or cold sores.

Several remedies can relieve symptoms and speed up healing. Instead of using medications and drugs right away, here are some home remedies that you can try.

Home Remedies

The appearance of fever blisters is usually preceded by a tingling or burning sensation. As soon as you feel this, rub fresh aloe vera juice on the affected area. You may also use pure aloe vera gel. Aloe vera has proven antiviral properties that soothe and heal fever blister. Applying aloe vera at the beginning of the infection can also help shorten the duration and decrease the severity of the infection.
Avoid peanuts, chocolate, grains, peas, oatmeal and seeds. These could worsen an outbreak of fever blisters.
Prepare a mixture using equal parts of tinctures of calendula, echinacea, burdock, oats and lomatium. Take half a teaspoon of this mixture four or five times daily to soothe the inflammation from the fever blisters and flush out toxins that could worsen the infection.
Shorten the healing process by drinking a few cups of sage tea into which you have mixed some powdered ginger. The spices have anti-inflammatory and antiviral properties that aid in the healing of fever blisters.
To relieve pain and inflammation, you can use several drops of the essential oil of St. John's wort. Alternatively, try mint extract, camphor or lemon balm extract. Apply any of these to your fever blisters. The blisters should begin to disappear in a few days.
Finally, moisturize and soften your cold sores or fever blisters by applying Vaseline on them. This prevents cracking and bleeding that could lead to further infection.