AbrevaDocosanol 10% Cream Tube, FDA Approved Treatment for Cold Sore/Fever Blister, 2 grams

Amazing!!!!! Every time I feel a cold sore starting to come on, this little tube saves me. Almost within hours I can feel it doing it's job and getting rid of my cold sore. I can't say enough wonderful things about Abreva.The tube is pretty small and unfortunately very expensive for the amount of cream. If you don't keep it somewhere safe you will likely lose it before you get another cold sore and you'll find yourself spending the money to get a new tube.Totally worth it!!

Little package with lots of punch. I get a cold sore due to a combination of stress and weather related conditions (e.g traveling in windy, cold weather) about once a year. At the very first sign, I apply this multiple times a day and it stays 1 small dot and clears in about 4 days. Without, it it'll spread to like 3-4 dots which makes it extremely noticeable and takes longer to heal.

I hate cold sores. I HATE them. I hate them with such unbridled fury and passion that if I were to be judged at the time of my death, and the subject of my blistering hatred came up(no pun intended), Heaven wouldn't want me, and Hell would just plain fear me. But after so many years of putting up with this plague, there is a solution.I usually get fever sores(cold sores) about 8-10 times a year. Usually every 2 months, I get a new outbreak around my lips. It could be a minor outbreak, with a simple little bump on the upper or lower lip, or a grotesque outbreak cluster of about 4-7 sores at once. Usually, these sores last 1-2 weeks, sometimes longer. The day I discovered Abreva, that all changed.As it states, Abreva cuts down the duration of cold sores quite dramatically. If you manage to detect a cold sore as it just begins to form (usually indicated by a burning or tingling sensation on the lip area), application of Abreva will possibly event prevent the outbreak entirely. Upon a breakout of sores, I find that consistent application cuts the duration of sores from 1-2 weeks to a mere 1-3 days! Don't beleive the utterly ridiculous accusations that Abreva is a placebo...this stuff works, and it works well.Aside from cutting down the duration of the sore, Abreva also releives any burning and itching you may get from them, so after a while you may not even realize that they're there. The cream is comfortable, and it doesn't sting, burn or itch after application. Though the white cream leaves a film after application, if you rub it in strongly the film disappears. Though the box recommends 4 applications a day, I usually double that to 8, and up to 10 times a day for those particularly brutal outbreaks.There are some disadvantages to Abreva, and perhaps the greatest of all: the price!Amazon.com, bless them, has this item listed at 13.99...try finding Abreva at that price anywhere else and you're in for a shocker...it usually goes for $18 on average, and we're talking a VERY small tube here. Don't let the size of the box fool you, the actual tube is less than half the size of my pinky finger! So in short, the cream is a marvel, but the price is simply outrageous. If you are plagued with cold sores on a routine basis, then its worth the price. If not, then I can't justify spending $18 on Abreva if you only get cold sores once in a blue moon. But like I said, thank you Amazon for the much cheaper price!Another disadvantage is that the tube tends to leak. Upon opening the tube for the first time, the cream tends to stat pushing itself out. When you open the tube for next use, you may find that alot of the cream has been squished into the cap, and that more of it will push out immediately upon the cap being removed. This leads to a lot of waste of the product.Another disadvantage is that the cream is virtually ineffective at treating cold sores that appear on the underside of the lip closer to the inside of your mouth, mainly because you'll end up inadvertantly licking the cream off or it will get washed away by your saliva.Finally, the cream dries your lips up quite alot...I would recommend using chapstick to moisturize your lips while using Abreva, because they will become very dry and chapped with continued usage.Overall, Abreva is one of the greatest things to happen to us cold sore slaves ever. Herpicin-L is utterly useless, Campophenique does little more than burn, dry out and taste awful, and chapstick only exacerbates the sore. Abreva is the way to go. If you can justify shelling out the cash for Abreva, then by all means, do it. Those of us that get multiple outbreaks a year will love it. Others who rarely get them needn't apply, unless the breakout is particularly brutal.

Works fast, great value, must start using ASAP

i hardly ever get cold sores, like years apart. i got one in june i think, late june maybe, under my lower lip. i didn't think anything of it, it didn't hurt, and by the second day it was dried out and getting a scab. i forgot about how long it takes them to go away. but it didn't go away. it didn't hurt, it was dry, but it just stayed there, it was quite noticeable, and as it happened, my daughter's wedding was coming up at the end of July. She was starting to worry that it would still be there for the wedding photos because it just wasn't changing, it wasn't getting any better, after weeks.i figured if you don't put something on them at the beginning, nothing is going to help so i never tried getting any remedies until less than a week from the wedding and we were at Whole Foods, and i saw a remedy displayed that said Cold Sores on it, so i picked it up. When i was paying for my groceries, the guy who was bagging them said i should try Abreva. He said he had tried lots of other things and they didn't work, he said i would get it at a drug store. i laughed because i had already paid for the other stuff and he was saying it didn't work.We went to Walgreens after that, we were going anyway, not just for the Abreva, but i got some, shocked by the price but whatever, the guy at Whole Foods really was convincing. I put it on according to the instructions, although it said you should put it on at the first sign, and this was after probably going on 4 weeks with no real improvement in how it looked, i was afraid by then it was permanent. I put it on and by the end of the next day the thing was fading, definitely. i kept putting it on and the wound was getting lighter, much better, my daughter noticed. Hard to believe that after all that time, it would cause improvement. I thought maybe it was a coincidence and that it would've gone away at that point anyway. But still, maybe it helped, it was a coincidence that looked good for Abreva. It did steadily go away after that, although if the light is right, i can still see a slight discoloration. Weird.Then, a few weeks later, i inadvertently touched my upper lip and felt a slight soreness. i checked it again in the next few minutes and felt a tiny thing that was like a pimple. i looked in the mirror, i couldn't really see anything, maybe a little redness. I figured maybe it was a cold sore, being right on the edge of the lip, so i put the Abreva on. It was definitely a tiny pimple with a little redness, yellow in the middle, and a little sore. I was certainly catching it at the beginning so i was optimistic.that was a Thursday night. I kept putting Abreva on all day on Friday. I was disappointed because it didnt' seem to change, it didn't get worse, so maybe that was a good sign, but it also didn't get better, and i had read some user reviews were some people said the sore was going away by the third day, but it wasn't changing at all, for sure. still i kept putting it on, frequently, more than it says on the tube. On Saturday i was sick without any warning, my throat was swollen, the uvula, and i felt a little weak. i took it easy and kept putting Abreva on the sore, but it didn't seem to get better. Also not any worse. On Sunday i woke up and i was fine and the cold sore was going away. This is Monday and it's virtually gone now. it was definitely almost gone yesterday, the third day.So i would have to say it works. i will keep it on hand and will use it again.I got the pump kind. LIke some other reviewers, when i tried it this recent time, found that too much of it squired out, and some of it ended up in the sink. But i found that after the first couple of times, i could control it and keep too much from coming out. It was still a little too much that i had to wipe on a kleenex, but that's because the sore was so tiny and it wasn't so much that it was a problem.i ordered another tube so i can keep some at work.