Cold Sore Relief: Top Natural Remedies

Opened my eyes on New Year's Day 2011 to find a large cold sore forming under my nose. AHHH, the horror. It was already bubbling up and the size of a dime. Over the years I have found when there is a serious temperature shift, from 15 degrees to 55 degrees in a day, that's when I get a break out. So yes, it was a balmy New Year's Eve and I get rewarded with a break out. For years I would get a sore and immediately apply ammonia to the tingling spot. Sometime it would deactivate a break out, sometimes not. Given the bubbles had already erupted I knew I needed an alternative solution because ammonia at this point would still allow for a 1 week heal time.

I read on Earth Clinic about acetone therapy. WOW!! It's working. I applied acetone to the sore via Q-tip several times that day and allowed it to evaporate. When I awoke this morning, the sore had dried up considerably and is hardly red. It appears the acetone has shorted the 2 week herpes life cycle to 1-2 days. I am so thankful this remedy works. I plan to apply acetone several times today for good measure. Acetone works far better than ammonia on killing this virus. Give it a try, you will be shocked.

Thanks everybody on here so much. Earth clinic is amazing; I always check it first and have managed to avoid getting a prescription for anything for over 3 years (funny because I am applying to med school but avoid doctors at all costs). I have had only a few cold sores my entire life, but a few days ago I felt tingling in my lip and went to the bathroom and saw my lip was a little red and slightly swollen. I freaked out. I have a big weekend planned visiting my friends and a guy I just met. Having a cold sore was out of the question. I got on here and saw the acetone remedy. I am finishing my degree in Chemistry and have had quite a bit of contact with acetone and knew that it would work as a powerful disinfectant/drying agent. Also, to everybody that was shocked/worried about acetone, it is produced naturally in very small quantities in the body. Certainly don't make a martini with it, but a couple q-tip's full over a few days shouldn't be harmful assuming you're not allergic. By the time I got home, I had a small sore on my upper lip and my bottom lip had a swollen area the size of a marble (ahh! ). I used a q-tip and applied acetone a few times an hour all night. The next morning the top sore had dried out and scabbed and the bottom was less swollen but still showing signs of blistering. I continued with the acetone in the morning and abreva/acetone throughout the day. I did not use any moisturizer/chapstick because I wanted the infection to dry out. Its now only two days into the outbreak, my bottom lip is normal sized and has scabbed below the surface, the top lip has no scab and is pink and healing well. I am so happy. Its hardly noticeable. By tomorrow, I anticipate I will be back to normal. I have started using Vaseline to moisturize and speed up healing. A little acetone is sooooooo much better than the two week embarrassment I faced last time I had a cold sore. This has almost cleared up in 48 hours and this was the worst (biggest) outbreak I have had. Thank you again.

I just wanted to thank you guys for giving me this tip on acetone. I was extremely skeptical but my last breakout terrible. When I saw a situation developing on my lip this time I freaked out and knew drastic action was gonna be required or I was gonna be out of commission for a month like last year. No good. Usually what happens is I get one herpes and then all h*ll breaks loose. My entire chin and lips get covered within 3 days. And inside my mouth as well... It's very bad. This time I read this thread and took immediate action. I took a cotton (make up remover disc) and put acetone on it. I then held it directly on the infected area. I did this several times per day (5 to 10 times) until it was gone. Here's the thing. My chin and lips were "ready" to have a major breakout but I kept dabbing the acetone anywhere I thought something was about to happen throughout the day... I highly recommend that because it saved me MUCH embarassment. Inside my mouth was terrible but the more vitamin C I took the more relief I got. Not a noticeable difference with Lysine. One note, as soon as you even think you have something developing on your face, dab it with acetone. And you know a difference between a pimple and a "cold sore". Thanks again everyone!

I applied 100% acetone on onset of my oral herpes and much to my surprise it worked!! I suffer from breakouts 1-2 times per month and have tried many things with no success of stopping a full blown blister. I kept applying acetone about every half hour on the first day and about every hour on the second day, then a few times per day until I was sure it was gone. I only experienced some redness and dryness but no ugly yellow blisters!!!! I hope this can help someone who is suffering from this agressive and ugly virus!!

Acetone Nail Polish Remover is now my best friend. It works wonders! As soon as you start getting that tingly feeling, put some on with a q-tip or some cotton swab. It burns a bit. But you can really feel it work. I kept doing this for about 5 minutes every couple of hours and what used to be a cold sore from hell that lasted at least two weeks is now a tiny mark that lasted only a couple of days. This really works! Thank you SO much!

First of all I love this website!

I recently had a GV outbreak after going almost 1 year without. I immediately came to this website. Looking at the last days before I felt the terrible tingling. I tried a new sweetener. Didn't like and only drank half the cup, but it was enough!!! I have been working on getting off of sugar. So I knew the only change was the artificial sweetener! NEVER AGAIN! So it was the very next day I woke up with the tingling. I dabbed a cotton ball with Acetone Polish Remover and held it to the area. OMG!! It burned!!! After the initial shock, it felt better. For the next 3 days I did this 2 times a day. I never had a full outbreak. By day 4 it was gone!!!! Thanks Earth Clinic!!

Not only is acetone produced by the body naturally in small amounts, it breaks down and is metabolized as fuel.

Acetone works well!!! If you are burned, you are either too wimpy or have some odd allergy.

If the smell bothers you, get the real stuff from HomeDepot. The nail polish smell and bitters is to deter winos from drinking it.

This is the first technique that I've found that actually helps. I get them from too much sun or windburn.

Acetone nail polish diminishes cold sores

You have to keep using it, though, for at least an hour or two. I'm in my 50s and have had cold sores ever since I was a little kid. I have found that if you can attack them quickly and aggressively, you can diminish them.

First, get a bottle of acetone nail polish remover and an over-the-counter strong cold sore ointment. First put the ointment on and let it sit there for a few minutes, then swab the sore with nail polish remover until the swab isn't cold anymore. Apply the ointment, and swab again. This takes two or three hours, but it's worth it. If you catch it early enough, the swelling will go down quite a bit and may be almost unnoticeable in the morning. I'm usually able to conceal it with a cover stick and a little powder the next day.

Acetone cured my cold sore! Stressing about Thanksgiving arrangements, pleasing family memebers,etc. which triggered a cold sore on my lower lip about the size of a nickel. So the day before thanksgiving I checked earthclinic and saw the acetone remedy for clod sores..I figured what the heck...I had already tried the over-the-counter remedies in the past without much luck so I applied the nail polish remover with a q-tip about four times that day then applied an anti-bacterial cream to clear up any infection. Overnight I was pleasantly surprised to see that it had reduced the cold sore to about 1/4 its original size! Flat, not sore, tingly or anything.Applied a small dab of makeup for Thanksgiving dinner and it wasn't even visible! Yea! Thanks Earthclinic!!

YEP!!! This seems to be a miracle solution for herpes, both oral and genital. I get both but if I take a cotton swab and dip it in acetone and hold it on the sores for several seconds (or as long as I can) they go away super fast. I keep putting the acetone on the sores throughout the day to dry them up and both oral and genital last only a few days at the most!! My friend's boyfriend tried the acetone on his genital herpes on his last breakout and they never became sores and disappeared in two days. Outbreaks don't seem to be as often either. I also take L-Lysine too but its the acetone that really does that trick.

Just had an GH outbreak after going 9 years without one! It was a small cluster on the outside labia (not on the mucous membrane) I was devastated and didnt want to have to go through weeks of pain. I was willing to try anything, and i did! I tried the acetone remover trick and IT WORKED. I pressed a q tip to the small cluster of sores that had not broken open yet, about 10 times yesterday and kept the area VERY DRY with cornstarch all day and night. Today, they are healing over and almost gone! they didnt break open, they didnt scab over, they didnt get any bigger...they are healing and almost gone. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

I fully agree. This actually works. Thanks everyone for their remedies.. im surprised they work but very thankful!

On Monday I woke up and felt a tingling feeling in and around my nose. I immediately jumped up and cleaned my face. After washing I put novitra and abreva around the area that was tingling. This method use to work for me however it seems like with any remedy that works my system eventually become immune to the concoction or remedy and I have to find something else. Well that is exactly what happened to me this time around. I ended up with a full blown cold sore, starting in one nostril and traveling around to the other one with a cluster all on the bridge of my nose ending on the very brim of my right nostril. Very big and very embarrassing! Needless to say there went my entire week. I took off two days of work and it ruined my weekend. Just when I thought the worst was over, I was going to bed on Saturday and prepared to go through my nightly routine of washing my face etc, and low and behold there was a small tingling feeling on my upper lip. I'm screaming to myself this can't be happening. I can't afford to take off anymore work and expect to have a job when I come back but I can't endure another week of having an embarrassing cold sore at work. I put some Abreva and novitra on it and when I went back approximately 5 minutes later, it appeared to be forming a cluster. I immediately jump on line to see if I can find any type of alternative treatment and I came across this website. After reading all the comment I realized it was extremely late and I had to work with what I had. So I immediately went to work. I ran to the sink and dabbed a Q-tip in Acetone nail polish remover. I left it on the cluster for about 2-3 minutes. I then grabbed an ice cube from the freezer and compressed it against the sore blister until it had completely melted. I then dipped another Q-tip into the nail polish remover and left it on for 2-3 minutes. I put some more Abreva and Novitra on it and went to bed. When I woke up the thing was completely gone. Just to be sure I repeated all of these steps again and plane to do it again before I go to bed. But so far so good. I just wanted thank everyone for posting their remedies. If they hadn't, I'd probably be out of a job right now.

This may sound strange, but when I feel a sore spot beginning to come on my lip, I take fingernail polish remover and dab it on the spot with my finger, 3-4 times a day. In many instances the eruption never happens... and if it does, it immediately starts drying up. I've taken care of my blisters for about 25 years this way with no adverse side effects. Works better than anything you can buy at the Drug Store!

Acetone nail polish remover is fabulous for cold sores! If you can catch it just when there is the tingle but not quite a blister yet, it often never gets any bigger than a tiny blister and it disappears without ever reaching the scab or the even worse, 'scab off' stage. Sometimes I can tell it's going to be a doozy but I dab it whenever I think of it and it 's just so much better than I have ever experienced and each stage lasts only half the time.