SMARTMED Smart Cold Sore Treatment Patch For Lips To Prevent Breakouts Soothe Itching And Burning Invisible Hydrocolloid Patches 24 Patches

I almost never write reviews, but I have to praise this product. As a life time sufferer of cold sores, I've tried pretty much everything. Two days ago, I felt the tell tale tingle, and I knew this time was going to be bad. So I looked online for solutions and found these patches. They reminded me of the pimple patches that get such great reviews, so I figured it couldn't hurt to try. As soon as the patches arrived today, I put one on each of the four blisters that had come up on my upper lip. The patches are incredibly sticky and I worried they could rip off the surface of the blisters when removed. It took a minute to get used to the feeling of the patches, but I soon forgot they were there. In my whole life of getting cold sores, this is the first time that I have forgotten that I had active cold sores. There was no burning, no itching, no pain, no sensitivity. It may not be advised, but I was also able to eat and drink with them on. I left them on for 9 hours and took them off before bed. The patches were easy to remove and didn't cause any damage to the blisters and there was no pain with removal. I was shocked at the amount of fluid that was pulled out of the blisters and lodged in the patches! At this point in my typical experience with cold sores, my lips would be horrendously swollen, but not this time. There are white patches where the blisters are, but they are flat. Absolutely no swelling. These patches are an absolute game changer and I highly recommend them to anyone who gets cold sores!Note: I am interested to see how long it will take for the blisters to go away while using these patches and if it shortens the healing time. I will update when I know.

First off, if it feels like you might be tearing off skin or a scab, stop. You don't have to cause damage.My first recommendation is if it isn't coming off easily and the adhesive around the outer edge is sealed, just leave it on.If you need it off a hot shower, lotion, lysine gel, will all work well for loosening it. For pulling it off I highly suggest going to the mirror, watching and applying minimal pull and waiting for the skin to separate from the patch slowly. If you notice any tearing happening stop immediately and return to loosening it. Worst case scenario use warm water directly to oversaturate the hydrocolloid.The reason I love these isn't for hiding the sore but rather for healing it quickly without scarring or even scabbing.These work extra well for this because the thicker area in the center Is a larger amount of hydrocolloid that I found to be far better at drawing out liquid, reducing both swelling and blister size. I found that the best case scenario if you have blisters is to do everything you can to allow them to drain gently without removing or tearing the skin or letting them get dry at all. If you do it right that layer of skin will flatten back onto the sore and become your "scab". At the end of the healing you'll be left with a little circle of dead skin, do not pull it off, wait for it to fall off. If you keep it covered the whole time it will not have a chance to dry out, get crusty, or crack.Extra tips:If there is residual fluid when you remove your patch soak it up by gently placing a Q-tip to the fluid, if there is any crust use warm water to gently remove it.Any sort of gel or ointment is almost certainly going to cause problems with adhesion. If it's a medically viable option for you I highly recommend just going and getting a prescription for antiviral pills, they can turn a waking nightmare into an occasional inconvenience. ( especially if you are in the situation I was in where my stress-induced breakouts were causing more stress-induced breakouts)If you're going to eat anything greasy or wet and messy just plan on changing out your patch after since it's very likely it'll start pealing up at the edgeIf you're having an especially bad breakout a normal, big hydrocolloid bandage is going to give you the best heavy duty fluid removal, shrinking power, and containment. Yes it's going to be unsightly, but I found it can aggressively hault swelling and tissue damage. If you do this be so very very extra careful with removal, be gentle and patient, attempt to only change it out if the hydrocolloid in the bandage is exhausted (turns white, puffed up, squishy to the touch.)If there are any breaks in the skin I normally gently sanitize the area with some IPA on a Q-tip to mitigate the chance of trapping bacteria instde.

This is my first cold sore using these patches. I bought them on a whim while shopping for replacement orajel cream. I've had huge cold sores since I was a child. They are never mild with me. My lip and face and neck will often swell. This time around, I had severe nerve pain through my jaw and ear. It woke me up! I have done almost everything on the market to heal these bad boys and I figured I could try these patches. (I did take 3000 mg of Lycine on top of these patches, as well as orajel cold sore cream at the very beginning.)The good: I love that it covers up the sore. I love that I am trying to keep the virus contained. And the healing time has greatly reduced. I hate the stage where it scabs because when I talk, it breaks open and bleeds. Or it bleeds on my food. This patch has helped that tremendously. No more soaking my lip in the morning just to be able to open my mouth without breaking the scab open. This was a life saver at night. I also feel like the scabbing part of the sore is shortened. I'm about a week into my current sore and it's almost healed. That's never happened!The bad: it's VERY noticeable. After a few minutes it looks like I have a puffy white ball on my lip. I don't mind at home but going out is hit and miss. If I didn't have to wear a mask for Covid all the time, I might skip the patch. It does peel up if I eat or drink. I find myself changing it right after ever drink because it's distracting and slimy. I've gone through an entire pack in 4 days.That being said, I bought another pack. It works well enough for me to want these always on hand for my huge breakouts.