Laser Treatment For Cold Sores: How An Oral Surgeon Can Help
Posted on: 29 June 2015
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After you have tried pills and creams and you just want your cold sores to go away, you might want to try laser therapy. Although the lasers will not prevent you from ever getting a cold sore outbreak again, they will kill the virus in the sores you have and decrease the virus's ability to spread and mutate. An oral surgeon can help you with this process in the following ways.
Initial Laser Treatment
An oral surgeon will schedule you for laser treatment, which given the contagious nature of your oral problems, the treatment will have to take place in an operating room. The laser will be guided around your mouth, targeting each separate sore and destroying it. At the same time, any sores that ooze are immediately cauterized and the oozing is exposed and destroyed by the laser, preventing it from spreading or contaminating anyone or anything else.
Follow-up Care
A follow-up with the oral surgeon is needed so that he or she can verify that all of your sores were treated. You may experience an outbreak within a few weeks to a month after surgery, but it should be less painful and you should experience fewer sores than you did before the surgery. There is even the possibility that your outbreaks could be far less frequent because the virus was attacked at the cellular level with the laser. After your post-operative follow-up with the surgeon, your condition will continue to be monitored by your regular doctor and by yourself at home.
Additional Laser Treatments
If your health insurance allows it, you may request additional laser treatments for cold sores. Since these viruses will find other healthy oral cells to invade, you may have sores break out close to the ones that you originally had treated with a laser. However, you may find that a topical or an antiviral medication will help you curb outbreaks better now and you may not need additional laser treatments unless your sores are numerous and/or they limit your ability to eat, drink, chew and swallow.
Instructions from Your Oral Surgeon
Follow the instructions of an oral surgeon, like New Image Cosmetic & Family Dentistry, after your surgery. The laser treatment creates almost no pain, and if you do have pain, the surgeon will advise you to take ibuprofen or acetominophen to help alleviate it. You should not experience bleeding of any kind, but if you do, return to the emergency room right away.