Coldsore or spot? AIBU annoyed at MIL

[MummaHud]

My mother in law always gets coldsores, she’s so careless with them so I have never let her round if she’s got one. At our wedding she came out with one, was obviously around my children.

daughter 5.5years
son 1.5 years

she didn’t kiss them, she was actually very good about it on the wedding day but she does wind me up and she doesn’t have very good hygiene… I’m worried she touched it and then didn’t wash her hands!!

but my daughter has come up with this, she’s at that age where she licks her lips so they’re a little chapped, it looks as if I could ‘pop it’ - it looks more like a head than blisters, but I don’t suffer and nor do my parents so I’ve not seen many coldsores in my lifetime.

could anyone advice? I’m worried about my 1.5 year old now, but not sure at what age it becomes less ‘dangerous’

Looks like a spot to me. In my experience cold sores become apparent and get bigger very quickly (hours rather than days) and start actually on the lip rather than below the lip line.

That looks like a spot to me. One for my grandmothers had coldsores, but to my knowledge, none of her grandchildren have them. Most of us spent a lot of time with her when we were kids, and even though this was in the 80’s when the risks weren’t as well known, I remember her being very, very cautious about not kissing us, sharing utensils, sharing towels etc when she had an active cold sore. I know it’s anecdotal, but as long as she’s taking basic precautions, she shouldn’t pass it on.

I think that most people who get them would hate to give them to a loved one My grandmother was way more cautious about it than my parents were. If she were still alive today she would be very unimpressed with the current trend of people feeling entitled to kiss other peoples babies even when parents say no.

Would assume a spot. If I get a cold sore it gets worse in a matter of hours and it’s a tingling sensation and feels itchy. Leave it well alone and if it looks the same in the morning it’s likely a spot. Wash hands as usual and don’t share bathroom towels if you’re really concerned

Coldsores look like multiple little fluid filled blisters, and rapidly develop into a very painful open sore when the blisters break. Quite different to a spot. The area where the sore errupts will often be itchy and hot just before the blisters arrive.

Something like 80-90% of adults will become infected at some point in their life. Some people just get it the once, and some people will get multiple reoccurrence as the virus stays in the body for life and can become reactivated.

That looks like a spot, probably just red from licking her lips. I get cold sores. They usually just appear from nowhere and develop very quickly into a cluster of little fluid filled blisters.