I’ve had www.compeed.co.uk/totalcare in my kit for a while, but recently used them myself, for the first time, when I felt a cold sore coming on.
As anyone who suffers from cold sores will know, they are hideous and you just want them to go away as quickly and painlessly as possible. But often they take up to 2 weeks to go, and the last few days can be the worst as they crust over and then split and bleed each time you open your mouth or try to eat something.
The patches take a little practise to put on, but if you read the instructions properly, it’s fairly simple.
At first it felt a bit weird having a plaster on my lip, but after a while, I got used to it, and other people could hardly notice it.
It felt reassuring knowing that my cold sore was completely covered, so reducing the risk of my children catching it. It also stopped it from hurting so much.
The cold sore started on a Monday evening, I could feel the unpleasant tingle, and there was a little redness, so I put a patch on. The next day there was a cluster of little blisters under the patch and they seemed to get bigger over the next few days. after about 3 days, I could feel that the cold sore was starting to heal.
It took until the following Wednesday until it had totally healed up, so not really any quicker than leaving it to heal on it’s own.
The difference was, the cold sore never actually crusted over, it just went away. So I managed to completely avoid the last few horrible days of splitting and bleeding and discomfort. (It is important that you use the patches until the cold sore has completely healed, otherwise you risk getting the crusting over period.)
I didn’t feel so self conscious, as the cold sore was well hidden and I was even able to apply make-up over it (although I chose not to do this as I did find it gave my lip a kind of waxy look and made me feel more concious of it)
I highly recommend these patches and will definitely use them again the next time I get another attack.(not too soon, I hope)
Amanda Roberts
