Weekly Comment

Welcome to Pharmacy Daily’s weekly comment feature. This week’s contributor is Amit Saha, M-Pharm, MBA, MPS group technical manager, LaCorium Health.

Lysine in cold sore treatment

COLD sores are tiny blisters that appear either in the mouth or on the lips. Normally HSV-1 virus causes cold sores, and it comprises 5 stages – tingling, blistering, weeping, crusting and healing. According to the American Academy of Dermatology, more than 50% of people aged 14 -49 carry the virus. While typically antiviral medications are prescribed to help treat an outbreak, there are many alternative approaches that work very well to combat all five stages of cold sores. As an alternative approach, lysine is commonly used for the treatment and prevention of cold sores. Lysine is essential for many bodily functions, however, people looking to use lysine to help treat cold sores will probably need to take a supplement to boost their lysine intake or use topically as soon as symptoms onset. Lysine may help to slow down or prevent the growth of the herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1), which is responsible for cold sores. HSV-1 requires arginine to grow, and Lysine helps prevent the body from absorbing arginine, making it difficult for HSV-1 to grow and reproduce.

Dermal Therapy’s Cold Sore Lysine Plus gel is a new and innovative approach to treatment. Combining lysine, anti-viral lemon balm and propolis extract, this is the first clear gel in the Australian market for combating all five stages of cold sores.