If you suffer from cold sores, then chances are you’ve tried (or at least considered) lots of home remedies to soothe the pain. There are lots of home remedies for anything that ails you, even cold sores. Be very careful with home remedies. Some are great, some are worthless, and still others are downright harmful. Nail polish remover for cold sores, or for anything other than removing nail polish, for that matter, falls into the last category.
Why you should NEVER use nail polish remover on cold sores
Some cold sore sufferers swear by nail polish remover as a remedy for cold sores. The theory is that the chemicals in nail polish remover kills the virus and dries up the sore. While it does work, and there are some positive effect from doing this, the remedy can cause far more harm than good.
The first thing to be aware of is that putting nail polish remover on a cold sore is incredibly painful. If you’ve ever accidentally gotten it into a hangnail or papercut, then you have an idea of how painful it can be. Now just imagine this pain on your lip. If you’ve never had this experience (count yourself lucky!) and imagine getting vinegar, salt or lemon juice into a paper cut and translate that to your lip. Yikes!
Nail polish remover contains chemicals that can cause damage to tissue, which can result in a sore taking longer to heal. Your cold sore could go from taking a couple of weeks to heal, to lasting a couple of months. Not exactly what most people are looking for.
Bottom line, while nail polish remover can help a little, it’s made from harsh chemicals that can cause a great deal of pain and can cause significant damage to your skin. Never use nail polish remover on ANY skin condition, especially not on your face or around your mouth.
Natural cold sore treatments are a better choice like supplements with Lysine and other antiviral herbs. They are most effective when you feel the first tingle that signals a flare up. Once the blisters erupt things like antiviral creams are little help. Even better, minimize your chance of outbreaks by reducing your stress, keeping your immune system strong, eating a nutritious diet and taking a high quality multivitamin every day.
I’m sorry but this whole article is bull. I’m speaking from experience. I’ve struggled with cold sores my entire life. You don’t know how many 10 day cold sores I have had to embarassingly struggle through as it’s hard to hide in your home for over a week without eventually needing to leave. My cold sores would get to the size of a quarter and I’m not exaggerating. One time the pharmacist said wow.. I feel really bad for you. That’s the worst I’ve ever seen. (He wasn’t being rude we were talking about our history with cold sores). The zovirax cream he gave me didn’t work. I even tried prescription pills for them. Abreva shortened the duration a little bit but barely. Those little patch things.. pfft. No. I was promised one every 4 months as I’m a highly stressed individual. One day I came across a YouTube video where a guy talked about putting nail polish remover on cold sores. I thought he sounded crazy but was desperate because I had gotten a familiar tingling feeling on my lip and had nothing to lose (except my lip if it fell off lol). So I tried it and I’m sooo happy I did it. Not only did it not burn but it completely stopped the little blisters in their tracks. You have to do it when they initially start tingling, not when they’re fill open sores. That’s why this article says it hurts like a bitch to put on because YEAH, when you put acetone in an open sores it’s probably not going to feel good. If you out it on the little blisters that haven’t developed yet it stops the infection from spreading almost like a protective little (dare I say) bubble. I was so happy I could have cried when this finally worked. It was a miracle cure and I couldn’t wait to tell everyone I knew that had cold sore problems about. The guaranteed visit every 4 months was also gone. Today is the first time in over a year that I woke up with a tingly feeling and ran to the bathroom to use my trusty Satan spawn killer. The only reason I think this one came to visit was because my grandma died and there are major family issues plus I’m snowed and stuck in a tiny little town that I can’t get out of when I desperately want to go home. Justified reasons to be stressed. The tingling has ceased since this morning after the application and I intend on doing it numerous times throughout the day. Please, don’t listen to this article! Try it you have nothing to lose. And your lip cells aren’t going to burn off and die just because you put this on it once. If you only have the little bubbles (not an open sores) please try this. Soak a q-tip or cotton ball and hold it on for 5-10 mins. Do this all throughout the day. I swear by it.
Hi Nicol, thanks for sharing your experiences…
IT FREAK’N WORKS!!!!