Cold sores or genital herpes outbreaks are very annoying and
sometimes difficult to treat. If you have herpes, consider using
honey the next time you have an outbreak.

In a study of 16 men and women with recurrent cold sores or
genital herpes, topical application of honey was compared to
administration of acyclovir cream, a drug commonly used to treat
herpes.

As compared to acyclovir, application of honey to the sores was
much better in terms of reduced attacks and pain, occurrence of
crusting, and healing time. The people who used honey instead of
acyclovir cream shortened their healing time by 43% for cold
sores and 59% for genital herpes sores.

With acyclovir treatment, none of the attacks went into complete
remission, and all the lesions developed a crust. No side effects
were noted with repeated applications of honey, whereas 3
patients developed local itching with acyclovir.

The patients were asked to randomly use either acyclovir or honey
treatment during the first attack. They were instructed to
initiate treatment within 1 hour of the appearance of first sign
or symptom of recurrence.

When honey was used as the treatment, the lesions were firmly
pressed with gauze soaked with honey for 15 minutes, 4 times a
day, until completely healed. When acyclovir cream was used, it
was applied 6 times a day.

In this study, topical honey was found to be safe and effective
in the management of the symptoms of recurrent herpes infections.
We suggest you use an unprocessed honey from wildflower sources.

Source: Al-Waili N, Topical Honey Application vs Acyclovir for
the Treatment of Recurrent Herpes Simplex Lesions, Med Sci Monit,
2004;10(8):MT94-MT98