Valtrex Dosing for Cold Sores

Evidence Supporting This Regimen

The American Society of Clinical Virology supports the use of a short-course, high-dose approach of valacyclovir, which accelerates healing and decreases pain in recurrent herpes labialis 1
Patient-initiated therapy at the earliest prodromal symptoms may even prevent lesion development entirely, as supported by the Journal of Clinical Virology 1

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention acknowledges that this regimen is generally well tolerated with minimal adverse events, with headache being the most common side effect, occurring slightly more frequently than placebo 1
The World Health Organization notes that other mild adverse events include nausea, diarrhea, dyspepsia, dry mouth, and flatulence, but these occur at similar rates to placebo 1
The Infectious Diseases Society of America reports that resistance to valacyclovir remains extremely rare (<0.5%) in immunocompetent patients despite over 20 years of widespread use 1