Any medical practitioner would say that prevention is surely better than cure. This goes for any disease or condition. This is a principle that can even be applied in daily living. When we talk about preventive measures, we are basically talking about certain changes or coping strategies that you need to inject into your normal or usual lifestyle. This starts by analyzing and evaluating your usual routine. From your usual routine, you can start drawing out those activities that are making you prone to certain diseases. In this case, it is cold sores that we are trying to prevent from infecting you. To be honest, avoiding cold sores is an easy thing to do if you really put your mind into it. The reason behind the ease in preventing cold sores is that the measures for prevention of cold sores are supposed to be what any person should be doing. If you read any preventive measure from most of the diseases that you can find in your ordinary healthcare book, you will notice that hygiene and a stress-free lifestyle are basically the keys to ensuring a disease free life. Let’s take a look at some pointers for prevention of cold sores.
- Make sure to wash your hands after contact. This is basically a worldwide practice being strongly suggested by the World Health Organization. This is supposed to be done after being in contact with anything that may have been infected with certain viruses or bacteria—the staircase on your way to the subway, the railings of the bus, the doorknob of the hospital. Make sure to wash your hands before those hands come in contact with areas of your body that will make it easier for pathogens to enter your body—the mouth, eyes, ears, genitals.
- Avoid using someone else’s personal belongings or borrowing them—lipstick, lip gloss, comb, spoon and fork, underpants, toothbrush. This may sound funny, but there are actually places that are not that blessed financially where they actually need to share things as personal as the ones mentioned above.
- Make sure to play it safe when engaging in sex. Prostitution is something that cannot be easily wiped out even with the intensified efforts of the government of every country. However, for those who are living their lives with this kind of act, make sure to keep yourself safe by using condoms. This will also help prevent HIV infection.