Chapter 1: Clinical Overview
You must refer to the pharmacist, if in your conversation you discover that your patient:
has not had a cold sore before or gets cold sores often.
may have a secondary bacterial infection around the cold sore, indicated by:
redness around the cold sore,
pus in the blisters,
a fever.
has cold sores spreading on other areas of their body, such as their eyes, or genital area.
is immunosuppressed (is undergoing chemotherapy) or is taking corticosteroids such as the prescription medicine prednisolone.
has a cold sore that is not healing.
is pregnant.
Plus, if you are not sure the patient has a cold sore.