A healthy patient, stressed about an exam, develops a small cluster of vesicular lesions on the hard palate that appeared the day before. What treatment do you give?

A cluster of small vesicles appearing acutely on keratinized mucosa (hard palate), in a healthy but stressed patient (stress is a classic HSV reactivation trigger), is consistent with a recurrent intraoral herpetic outbreak. Started early (as here, within a day of onset), a systemic antiviral can shorten the course and reduce severity — antibiotics and corticosteroids are not appropriate for a viral lesion.