Cold sore the size of a small island

[BadKreacher]

I've not had a cold sore since I was a teenager but a couple of days ago a ginormous one came up between my nose and lip. Its all weepy and horrid. I've been putting zovirax on it since I felt the bump came up. Is there anything else I can do - how long will it last?
And to match dh has a small one as does dd, both on their lips. We all started within 24 hours of each other - we are the Cold sore family - bizarre!

I've found Zovirax only works if you catch the cold sore at the tingling stage, very early on, and even then, not always. The best thing for me is liquid TCP. Put it neat on the sore (and surounding area)with a cotton bud 3 times a day. It stinks, but aids a speedy recovery and the sore won't spread. That said, with the whole family having them, could it be impetigo? It is highly infectious and you may need to see a pharmacist or GP for treatment.

Once you've got it, there's not much you can do I'm afraid. It sounds like its infected now, so you better get off to the docs for some AB's. In the future you could try taking L-Lysine. Its a herbal remedy from Holland & Barretts. I've been giving it to my dd for about six months and although she still gets them now and then, they don't last nearly as long and they're not as bad.

Thanks guys. I don't think its impetigo in that dhs looks exactly like the ones he usually gets and dds is also small and neat.

It has crossed my mind though. Especially as the day I got it I had a really severe psoriasis flare that appeared over a period of a few hours. The psoriasis looks a lot less cross now but it looked like I'd been scalded down my legs. I had an impetigo infection (in my tummy button) a year or so ago and that flared my psoriasis head to toe.

Am really feeling in the wars - I've even got an ulcer on the tip of my tongue now!

If its not all calmer by tomorrow I'll def go to the doctors - why do these things always happen at the weekend? I'll try the tcp too - I think we've got some. Interesting about the Lysine - I'll look into that.