I think the washing right away is helpful. I don’t believe that you need testing to know that these are cold sores, they certainly sound that way, but if you have any doubt, you could test for greater certainty.
There are so many problems with the research study that you quote, I don’t know where to begin, but the most obvious thing is that no one recommends acyclovir cream to treat oral herpes – the comparator should have been the big dose of valacyclovir that is FDA approved for the treatment of herpes. It was single blind, not double blind. I could go on. Suffice to say, for me, there is no indication of laser treatment for cold sores, based on this study alone.
Terri