Once you get a cold sore, you start to wonder what you need to do. If you’ve used chapstick on an open sore, you aren’t supposed to be able to reinfect yourself. That’s because cold sores are a form of Herpes. Once you have HSV 1, you’ll always have it. However, there are reports of people using chapstick days later only to have another cold sore pop up out of the blue. It could be a coincidence, but it might not be.
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According to Dr. Beers, it doesn’t matter how long it lives outside of the body. Once you use something “you should consider it contaminated and throw it away after the sore is better.” (He has a lot of useful tips about dealing with cold sores in this article.)
Can You Get Herpes From Sharing Chapstick?
Yes, you can. Although there are plenty of websites that state that HSV can only live for ten seconds outside of the human body, that’s not entirely truthful. In some instances, the virus only survives for eight seconds on inanimate objects. However, according to this study, there are instances where it survives for up to eight weeks. This is why it is so difficult to give an exact answer to the question of how long does herpes live on chapstick? Picking up some new chapstick is always a great idea!
Do You Have To Throw Out Lipstick After A Cold Sore?
Yes and no. It depends on the type of product that you have. Tubes and liquid lipsticks that were used should be tossed. However, you can try wiping down the applicator with rubbing alcohol to disinfect it. People seem to have mixed results with this method.
You do not have to throw away tube-style lipsticks and chapsticks. Instead, you can disinfect them or remove the top portion of the lipstick or chapstick. To do this, take a razor blade and gently cut off the top portion of the lipstick or chapstick that touched your lip.
How To Disinfect Lipstick After A Cold Sore
If simply cutting off the top portion doesn’t make you feel safe, consider disinfecting lipstick and chapstick after a cold sore. Get a spray bottle full of rubbing alcohol. Raise your lipstick or chapstick out of the tube, and give it a couple of sprays. Rubbing alcohol can kill the herpes virus.
Read this article for more lip care tips!
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