What You Need to Know About Shingles

Shingles is a painful viral infection caused by the varicella-zoster virus which also causes chickenpox. If you’ve had chickenpox, this virus lies dormant in nerve tissues and can reactivate years later as shingles.

Symptoms include pain, burning, numbness or tingling, sensitivity to touch, a red rash or fluid-filled blisters, and itching. Sometimes people experience fever, headache, sensitivity to light, or fatigue.

Pain is often the first symptom, and it can be intense. Sometimes people experience shingles pain without getting a rash. The rash often occurs as a stripe of blisters wrapped around one side of the torso. Sometimes it occurs around an eye or one side of the neck or face.

Anyone with shingles can pass chickenpox onto others. You should avoid physical contact with newborns, pregnant women, or anyone with a weakened immune system until your blisters scab.

Though not life threatening, some people continue to feel pain after the blisters are gone due to damaged nerve fibers sending messages of pain to your brain. Some nerve damage may result in brain inflammation, facial paralysis, hearing challenges, or balance difficulty. Others may suffer vision loss if their rash caused an eye infection. If blisters aren’t properly treated, skin infections may develop.

While there’s no cure for shingles, prompt medical treatment with antiviral drugs can aid healing and reduce your risk of complications. Doctors may also prescribe pain relievers and anti-depressants.

Shingles usually lasts for two to six weeks. Most people get shingles only once, but some will experience it multiple times.

The chickenpox vaccine is now routinely administered to children, but recommended for adults who’ve never had chickenpox. The vaccine doesn’t completely prevent chickenpox, but it can reduce complications and the severity of the disease. The shingles vaccine is FDA-approved for those 50 and older. While it doesn’t prevent everyone from contracting the disease, it can reduce the severity of shingles and reduce the risk of nerve damage.