Compeed Cold Sore Patch

I've suffered with cold sores for as long as I can remember. The creams have helped but they've never stopped the sore from developing and then going all horrible and scabby. I also know just how infectious they are and would hate to pass them on to anyone. Which is why, when the first one since the birth of my son, reared its ugly head I became rather worried. As any mother will tell you it's nigh on impossible to prevent your baby from coming into contact with your face, especially when you have to pick them up so much when they're little. My son is currently in the 'flailing about' stage and regularly smacks me one in the mouth. Of course the first time he did this after I spotted the cold sore, I went into full blown 'mummy panic' mode, grabbed his little wrist and held on tight until I could scrub his hand down with a wipe, because he's also in the 'shove everything in his mouth' stage.

So, for me the selling point of these patches was the fact that they provide an infection barrier. Any other benefits were secondary and I was somewhat sceptical of their abilities to disguise and clear up the cold sore.

My OH was despatched to obtain these little patches from Boots at £6.99 for a pack of 15 patches. They come in a small plastic case which has a mirror stuck to the inside of the lid with a piece of double-sided foam tape. This had already fallen off before I opened my pack and I couldn't get it to stay stuck again. It was also more of a safety mirror and a bit dark, so I don't know how much use it would be anyway.

The patches are individually wrapped in plastic sleeves, much like a plaster. Once you get this open there is a patch attached to an applicator. You pull on both ends of this applicator to release the patch. One end will come away more easily than the other, so that half the patch is exposed, you stick this half down, then pull away the other half of the applicator and stick the rest of the patch down.

According to the instructions, each patch should last for 8 - 10 hours, and 15 patches should be enough to treat one cold sore.

I never detect cold sores when they're in the 'tingly' stage, so mine was already a blister when the first patch went on. I immediately noticed a difference in the visibility of the cold sore. From a distance you could barely tell there was anything there and even close up it was much more discreet than normal. The patch itself virtually disappeared, just a slight wrinkling around the edges where it didn't quite lie flat over my lip. The cold sore was right in the middle up my top lip, so a pretty uneven surface to work with.

The patch itself is sticky all over to help it stick down, however it can start to come unstuck quite easily once it gets wet. Given the particular location of mine I found I had to be careful eating and especially drinking. In fact, I took to drinking cold drinks with a straw, although the patch only really started to detach where it was almost in my mouth. The downside of it being sticky all over comes when it's time to remove it. Because it keeps the cold sore moist, to prevent it from splitting and scabbing over, the soft skin on the top of the blister stuck to the patch and then pulled off when I removed the patch exposing a red not-quite-healed area underneath. Once I was happy that the cold sore had cleared up and I stopped using the patches, this area then did scab over. However, it was far smaller and cleaner than it would have been without the patches. To prevent this from happening again I think it would help to soak the area with water first, to soften up the glue, before trying to remove it gently.

The biggest benefit I noticed was in the itching, or rather the lack of itching. Normally cold sores irritate the hell out of me by itching all the time, and the creams were never much good at stopping that. During the time I was using the patches I barely felt so much as a niggle from it.

Although the pack says that 15 patches is enough to treat one cold sore, I didn't actually use all the patches. After four and a half days of using them, my cold sore was down to the point of surface healing, and I stopped using them, with 5 patches left in the box. Bear in mind that I didn't start using them until the sore had already developed into a blister.

Finally, here's a list of things that I found would definitely cause the patch to come unstuck:

Cleaning my teeth
Having a wash/shower
Drinking without due care and attention
Ditto on the eating
Trying to eat corn on the cob

With the morning ablutions occurring at a time when I wanted to change my patch anyway, I found it best to remove the old patch first and then put the new one on when I'd done.

I can't say for sure whether they were effective in preventing me from passing the infection on to my son, as I was still very careful about my contact with him, but he hasn't shown any signs of having caught them.

Overall, a great little product that I shall definitely be buying again, and I would recommend it to anyone who suffers.

*** UPDATE ***

Over a year on since I started using the patches, I'm still using them and they are still working brilliantly. I've had several more cold sores in the meantime but my son remains coldsore free.

Also, since writing my original review I have managed to detect and treat a coldsore at the 'tingly' stage, and only had to use one patch as it stopped the coldsore dead in it's tracks!

I've also found that the patch is less prone to being disturbed by eating and drinking if the coldsore is on your lower lip.