[8] A zinc oxide, anesthetic, or antiviral cream appears to decrease the duration of symptoms by a small amount.

[14] Primary HSV infection in adolescents frequently manifests as severe pharyngitis with lesions developing on the cheek and gums.

[14] Primary HSV infections in adults often results in pharyngitis similar to that observed in glandular fever (infectious mononucleosis), but gingivostomatitis is less likely.

Symptoms typically progress in a series of eight stages: The recurrent infection is thus often called herpes simplex labialis.

Rare reinfections occur inside the mouth (intraoral HSV stomatitis) affecting the gums, alveolar ridge, hard palate, and the back of the tongue, possibly accompanied by herpes labialis.

Rather than utilizing antifungal creams, angular herpes simplex is treated in the same way as a cold sore, with topical antiviral drugs.

When reactivation occurs, the virus travels down the nerves to the skin where it may cause blisters (cold sores) around the lips or mouth area.

[26] Cold sore outbreaks may be influenced by stress, menstruation, sunlight,[27] sunburn, fever, dehydration, or local skin trauma.

HSV-1 can in rare cases be transmitted to newborn babies by family members or hospital staff who have cold sores; this can cause a severe disease called neonatal herpes simplex.

People can transfer the virus from their cold sores to other areas of the body, such as the eye, skin, or fingers; this is called autoinoculation.

[34][35][36][1] During active infection (outbreaks with oral lesions) avoid oral-to-oral kissing and oral-genital sex without protection.

[35] In some cases, sun exposure can lead to HSV-1 reactivation, therefore use of zinc-based sunscreen or topical and oral therapeutics such as acyclovir and valacyclovir may prove helpful.

[39] Surgical procedures like nerve root decompression, facial dermabrasion, and ablative laser resurfacing can increase risks of reactivation by 50–70%.

[40][1] Docosanol, a saturated fatty alcohol, was approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration for herpes labialis in adults with properly functioning immune systems.

[42] Anaesthetic creams include lidocaine and prilocaine which has shown reduction in duration of subjective symptoms and eruptions.

Treatment with oral antivirals such as acyclovir in children within 72 hours of illness onset has shown to shorten duration of fever, odynophagia, and lesions, and to reduce viral shedding.

[35][1] Mouth-rinse with combinations of ethanol and essential oils against herpes as therapeutic method is recommended by the German Society of Hospital Hygiene.

A large survey of young adults on six continents reported that 33% of males and 28% of females had herpes labialis on two or more occasions during the year before the study.