How you get cold sores

Dear Ask The Doctor: My 13 year old daughter keep getting cold sores on her top lip every couple of weeks and i was wondering why she keep getting them

Dear Maalikah:

I recognize how worry you are about your daughter cold sores. These are groups of small blisters on the lip and around the mouth. The skin around the blisters is often red, swollen, and sore. The blisters may break open, leak a clear fluid, and then scab over after a few days. They usually heal after several days to 2 week and are caused by Herpes Virus.

The virus that causes cold sores cannot be cured. After getting infected, the virus stays in the body for the rest of your life. In most cases a person's cold sores will always recur in essentially the same general facial area. This is because this is the region that is serviced by the nerve that harbors the dormant virus particles.  If you get cold sores often, treatment can reduce the number of cold sores you get and how severe they are.  Your daughter should be careful of not touching the sores to prevent re infection in other parts of her body. Stress, anxiety, colds, menstruation and excessive sun exposure might cause the sores to appear frequently. I would suggest her to use Antiviral creams such as Acyclovir that will help reduce the process of every outbreak. I wish her a prompt recovery.