It’s never fun developing a cold sore, and many people are afflicted by outbreak after outbreak. As if the sore wasn’t bad enough by itself, and just when you start thinking you’re on the mend, an ugly yellow crust, or scab, forms. On most of your body, a scab means that the pain disappears. However, with a cold sore, there’s no such luck. Every time you move facial muscles or your lips, the scab can crack painfully. So what’s the best way to treat cold sore scabs, and are there any tricks to attempt to cause them to feel better?

You would like the scab to form, because that means new, fresh skin is forming under it. Needless to say, that also means that it’s going to start itching badly. Even though the virus is retreating to where it’ll lie dormant until next time, the area will be painful and irritated. Lots of people give into the temptation of picking on the scab trying to get it to go away and leave them healed; however, it won’t disappear naturally on it’s own before the time is correct, and anything you do to attempt to remove it prematurely will do more harm than good. You can rip the sore open again and start it to bleeding which will make it take just that much longer to heal.

Picking at any scab can also cause more permanent scarring. Even when you leave the scab on until it falls off naturally, it can leave a temporary scab. The most effective thing you can do for helping the scab heal and leave less scarring is always to apply Neosporin or other antibiotic ointment 3 to 4 times a day until everything is healed up. Neosporin will help keep a scab from cracking and keep a cracked scab from becoming infected.

The scab is not contagious. Likelihood is very slim that when you kiss someone you’ll be able to pass the cold sore along to them once the area has completely scabbed over. However, if you’d rather not take any unnecessary chances, the only real 100% positive approach to keep it from spreading is probably to stop kissing until the entire sore has disappeared.