Herpes simplex

My wife suffers from herpes simplex, aka cold sores. This is a viral infection which normally causes sores on her lower lip; it also causes her to feel lousy for several days. Unlike most viral infections, once the body has been infected with this virus, it can never be eradicated. Most of the time, the virus is dormant, but every now and then, normally at times of stress or when the immune system is weakened, the virus takes advantage of the situation by waking up and placing a greater strain on her immune system.

A few weeks ago, I was idly googling the subject when I came across the fact that there is some form of treatment with light which while not killing the virus, can at least shorten the virus' active period. A bit more googling and I found this. Whilst I might be sceptical of the idea, there seemed to be empirical research that treatment by UV B light was effective in shortening the period that the herpes virus was active.

After a quick consultation with my wife, we decided to buy a 'machine' - it's about the size of a pocket torch, so calling it a machine is slightly misleading. I ordered it via Ebay, where a new one seemed the cheapest option, even after allowing for postage. 

The machine arrived after a week, ironically on the same day that a new sore appeared on my wife's lip. Immediately she inserted the enclosed 9v battery into the machine and used it. The instructions say that it should be used every twelve hours for three days (six treatments) although one can use it more frequently. After three and a half days, my wife pronounced the sore gone. 

So whilst maybe the machine does not totally live up to its advertising pitch, let us not forget that everyone is different and that there are no guarantees in medicine. What is clear is that the machine worked faster than putting ointment onto the sore, and it's more aesthetically pleasing (the sore is bad enough, but an ugly mound of white cream on the sore is even worse). I think that we can definitely call this one a win and so I can recommend this machine should one suffer from herpes simplex.