Herpes labialis is a common problem in many young people and various, more or less empirical, therapies were adopted to put down starting manifestations. Most treatments are however ineffective, so a multinational study was realized to evaluate the efficacy of a single-dose famciclovir on 701 immunocompetent adults. The requisite to enter the study was the presence of at least three episodes of herpes labialis in the previous year, with the presence of symptoms in at least half cases and the evolution towards vesicular stage in at least half episodes. Within an hour from symptoms appearance and before the appearance of any lesion, the subjects were administered placebo or 1500 mg famciclovir (in a single dose or in two doses within 24 hours). Both with placebo and with famciclovir, the duration of recovery was reduced of 2 days, while the use of famciclovir reduced of 1 day the duration of pain and of mucous hypersensitiveness. Famciclovir was not able, however, to prevent the viral manifestation and the evolution towards the vesicular stage.
Considering the poor clinical outcome and the cost of such a therapy, to turn towards a simple anesthetic cream (reducing recovery times of 2 days) continues to be the most acceptable therapeutical solution.
