Chicago, Illinois (NAPSI) - Star athlete and Olympic gold medal winner Misty May-Treanor has some advice for the 80 million Americans who develop cold sores: “Don’t tough it out, knock it out.”

“I’ve gotten cold sores for as long as I can remember, and have been using Abreva for about that long. I like it because it gets the job done fast. I try to use it as soon as I feel the first tingle of a cold sore.”

Abreva, the number one pharmacist recommended over-the-counter cold sore treatment, speeds healing like a prescription but without one. It penetrates deep to the root of cold sores and helps block the spread of the virus to healthy cells.

“Other ‘look-alike’ cold sore treatments claim to heal cold sores as fast as Abreva and may even imitate the packaging, but Abreva is the only over-the-counter medication approved by the FDA that is proven to shorten healing time and duration of a cold sore,” said Pam Marquess, Pharm.D, pharmacist, pharmacy chain owner.

Marquess says common triggers of cold sores include fatigue, stress, cold weather, ultraviolet (UV) rays, hormonal changes, trauma to your mouth or lips, and a fever, a cold or the flu.