Yeah I know, this is supposed to be a technology blog. This one’s for posterity.

I get severe canker sores. Huge. They hurt. They are no fun. It’s technically called Apthous Stomatitis . I’ll get open canker sores about the size of a dime or worse that last for several weeks. That wikipedia link and other sites enumerate many attempted treatments. Some things that work for one person just has no positive effect for another. I’ve tried most of them and none of them seem to help.

When I was growing up, baking soda applied directly to the sore would help it heal faster. It hurt like heck though. My cankers get larger nowadays and the baking soda technique just hurts like crazy and doesn’t help at all.

My contribution to posterity is to merely document a treatment I heard about which has helped me. I got this home treatment from my cousin, who is a doctor. I’m not a doctor so don’t mistake this for medial advice.

The treatment is to use a styptic stick or pencil. They’re not as common nowadays but you can still find them in drug stores. They’ll be marketed as a way to stop bleeding if you’ve nicked yourself shaving.

You run a little water over the styptic pencil and then apply it directly to the sore. It chemically cauterizes the sore. Sometimes it stings a little bit, but not terribly so. It’s nothing compared to the hurt from baking soda or salt. You will get a pretty potent taste of citrus.

So, if you are one of the unfortunate sufferers of recurrent severe cankers and nothings seems to work, using a styptic pencil might be worth a try.