Home remedies and lifestyle changes
There are certain things that you can do at home to minimize the pain and discomfort from genital herpes or a cold sore. In addition, you can also make a few changes in your lifestyle and daily routine to avoid the formation of lesions and other symptoms getting worse. Some steps that you can take can help in stopping the spread of herpes virus or recurring of an infection.
Apply cold compress
Keep a well-insulated ice pack or cold compress on your sores and lesions for as long as it makes your skin feel better. The cold compress will not improve or worse the blisters, but it can definitely lessen the pain and discomfort.
Keep the sores dry and clean
Genital herpes and cold sores infection can suffer from infection with bacteria present at your hands and then in the latter case from feces or urine. Keep the area of blisters and sores dry and clean as well to avoid any additional infection.
So not pick or scratch
It is essential to avoid scratching and picking on the open sores or scabs resulting from the herpes infection as you can unknowingly spread the infection from the infected area to other areas on your body.
Manage your stress
Stress can also impair the optimal function immune system and the deficiency in immune system can lead to the development of genital herpes like infections. Reducing and managing your stress can greatly help in preventing excessive recurrences of genital herpes infection. [8]