Lysine is apparently the best supplement for preventing cold sores but I’ve never had much luck. When I get them I alternate between Zovirax in the first couple of days to dampen down the virus and then switch to the Compeed patches to stop it from drying out and scarring. Any scars that I have had do fade over time.
Lysine really helped me this time around. I felt the tingle on Wednesday, started taking lysine on Thursday and my cold sore started drying up and crusting over the next day. Now it’s Monday and the scab has come off and it’s much less noticeable, I think it’s one of those things that’s worth trying, but sometimes it’s going to be more effective than other times. It might depend on your overall health at the time. At the moment I’m just completely drained so the lysine supplement I’m taking (Blackmores), which contains vitamin C and zinc as well, might have been the thing I needed to give my immune system a bit of a boost.