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What’s the Difference Between Canker Sores and Cold Sores?

Canker sores occur only in the soft tissues of the mouth, such as on your gums or inside your cheeks. They can be caused by a variety of factors, including injury to the inside of your mouth and vitamin deficiencies.

Cold sores form on and around your lips, although in some cases they can also form inside your mouth. They’re caused by infection with the herpes simplex virus (HSV).

Canker sores

Canker sores occur only on the inside of your mouth. They can be found in the following areas:

Gums, inside your cheeks or lips, on or below your tongue, soft palate, which is the soft, muscular area found in the back area of the roof of your mouth.

You may notice a burning or tingling feeling before canker sores appear.

Canker sores are typically round or oval in shape. They can appear to be white or yellow, and may have a red border.

Canker sores can also vary in size from small to large. Large canker sores, which can also be referred to as major canker sores, may be quite painful and take longer to heal.

Herpetiform canker sores, a less common type of canker sore, occur in clusters and are the size of pinpricks. This type of canker sore typically develops later in life.

Cold sores

The symptoms of a cold sore can depend on if you have a new infection with HSV or have had the virus for a while.

Those with a new infection may experience:

burning or tingling, followed by the development of painful sores on or around the lips, in the mouth, on the nose or other areas of the face:

Sore throat or pain when you swallow, fever, body aches and pains, headache, nausea, swollen lymph nodes.

If you’ve had the virus for a long time, you may experience periodic outbreaks of cold sores. These outbreaks typically follow several phases, including:

warning signs in the area of the outbreak, which can include a burning, stinging, or itching sensation

appearance of cold sores, which are filled with fluid and are often painful

crusting over of the cold sores, which happens when the cold sores break open and form scabs

healing of cold sores, typically without a scar, in one to two weeks.

Like canker sores, cold sores typically go away on their own within a few weeks. There are some treatments that can help ease symptoms and speed up healing, including:

OTC creams or gels containing lidocaine or benzocaine to ease pain

OTC cold sore creams containing docosanol, which may shorten your outbreak by about a day

prescription antiviral drugs, such as acyclovir,valacyclovir, and famciclovir.

While the exact cause of canker sores is uncertain, you can help prevent them by doing things such as protecting your mouth from injury, eating a healthy diet, and reducing stress.

Most canker sores will go away on their own in a week or two.

Cold sores are caused by HSV infection. Once you have the infection, you have the virus for your lifetime. Some people with HSV will never have cold sores while others will experience periodic outbreaks.

Cold sores should clear up on their own in a few weeks, although antiviral medications may speed healing. You should be particularly conscious to avoid skin-to-skin contact or the sharing of personal items when you have a cold sore, as this could spread the virus to others.

(02/01/2021)
by Health Line

More Information: https://www.healthline.com/health/canker-sore-vs-cold-sore

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