No one wants to suffer through two weeks of painful, ugly cold sores so finding the best cold sore treatment can seem almost like a matter of life and death. There are a lot of things that can cause a cold sore outbreak. Too much stress, hormone changes, extreme temperatures, other illnesses such as a cold or the flu can undermine your immune system and make you more susceptible to an outbreak. Cold sores are the result of the herpes simplex 1 virus (it’s the type 2 herpes simplex virus that causes genital herpes).

Most people, up to 80% have the herpes simplex 1 virus in their bodies. Many of us will come into contact with it early in life. The virus can stay dormant and then, given the right triggers, flare up into a full fledged outbreak.

Here are some of the best cold sore treatment options for you. Try different ones until you find the one that works best for you:

1. Be very careful how often and when you touch or scratch your cold sore. Cold sores are very, very contagious and though it may sound odd, you can actually re-infect yourself on other parts of your body. Don’t pick, and when you touch the cold sore, wash your hands thoroughly.

2. Keep the area around the cold sore clean by washing it with hot water, as hot as you can stand without burning yourself, and anti bacterial soap. Keeping your existing outbreak from spreading is going to help you get over the outbreak more quickly.

3. Find an L-lysine ointment to use on the cold sore. When you apply the ointment make sure you start at the edges of the cold sore and work your way in. That way you won’t spread the virus from your cold sore to other parts of your face. And of course, after you apply the ointment make sure you wash your hands.

To help prevent further outbreaks, or at least lessen the number that you get, try to isolate what triggers your outbreaks. If you seem to get an outbreak at a certain time of the month, and you’re a woman, your outbreaks might be related to your hormonal cycle (though they could also be related to the stress that you may have with all your monthly hormonal changes rather than the hormone changes them self).

And always treat your body well. Eat well, get the proper balance of nutrients, get plenty of sleep and avoid excesses in alcohol, caffeine and sweets. If you have a high stress life, and there’s not really anything you can do to change the stress level, at least find healthy ways to deal with the stress. Taking a yoga class, meditate or just taking a walk around the block can help you keep your stress at bay which can help prevent outbreaks.

No one wants to suffer through a painful cold sore outbreak. Following some simple tips can help you keep your outbreaks to a minimum. If you still end up with an outbreak the tips

above are the best cold sore treatment tips around.