Cold Sore Remedies OTC remedies for cold sores Carmex for Cold Sores

Carmex for Cold Sores

Carmex for cold sores is the famous lip balm brand OTC treatment for cold sores and fever blisters. I've analyzed most of its ingredients in my page OTC treatment for colds sores. Please take a look at it as I will not go in details about these ingredients here. Carmex contains menthol, camphor, alum, salicylic acid, phenol, petrolatum, lanolin, cocoa butter, wax base and fragrance. These ingredients can make your skin softer, menthol can relieve pain and itching, phenol is an antiseptic and numbing agent, salicylic acid, petroleum, lanolin and coca butter can soften and moisturize the skin and alum is an astringent and an antibacterial agent that can prevent bleeding .

Is Carmex for cold sores really efficient?

It can alleviate the symptoms, create a pleasant sensation to the skin but none of its ingredients particularly target herpes. It is therefore more a pain killer and moisturizer than a treatment for cold sores and fever blisters. Furthermore, you may be allergic to salicylic acid or lanolin and I don't the purity of the petroleum they use. This is some information I took on Carma-labs the manufacturer of Carmex for cold sores:
"What if I have an adverse reaction to aspirin?
Some people with highly sensitive lips can experience a reaction to the salicylic acid in Carmex. In these cases we recommend that the person switch to some unmedicated product such as petroleum jelly."

They also suggest using their sunscreen Carmex click sticks. But they contain chemical sunscreens and I believe it is safer to use zinc oxide sunscreen products for cold sore prevention because it is not certain that those chemical sunscreens are completely safe and can be ingested and that should be a concern when you apply something on your lips.

My conclusion: Carmex for Cold Sores is a pleasant product to use to moisturize your skin and help speed cold sore healing. But it can't do more than that. You can use it to alleviate your symptoms if you're not allergic to its ingredients. Because it contains salicylic acid I wouldn't use it on an open sore but rather on a cold sore crust. So don't scratch you cold sore crust and use Carmex for cold sores help soften them. In other words, use it at the end of your cold sores to heal crusts faster.

Buy Carmex Cold Sore Reliever and Lip Moisturizer, Jar at Drugstore.com

These are information on Carmex for Cold Sores provided by Carma Labs:

Indications for Carmex for cold sores:

Use for cold sores, fever, blisters, and chapped lips.

Directions for Carmex for Cold Sores:

Apply freely to affected parts.

Carmex for Cold Sores Ingredients:

Active Ingredients: per container: Menthol, Camphor, Alum, Salicylic Acid, and Phenol

Inactive Ingredients: Fragrance, Petrolatum, Lanolin, Cocoa Butter, Wax Base

Warnings for Carmex for Cold Sores:
Use only as directed.
Keep all medicine out of children's reach.
Personal note: This warning should be taken seriously because Carmex contains ingredients that can have potentially harmful side effects if ingested or used improperly.

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More over the counter cold sore treatments:

Abreva | Carmex for cold sores | Chapstick cold sore therapy
Pure Lip cold sore remedy | Releev for cold sores | Zilactin Cold Sore Relief

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