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Shingles

By

The Manual's Editorial Staff

Reviewed/Revised Feb 2024
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What is shingles?

Go to a doctor right away if you think you have shingles, because treatment works best when started early.

What causes shingles?

After you get over chickenpox, the virus remains in your nerve roots, near your spine. Sometimes the virus becomes active again and causes a rash (shingles). The rash develops on the part of your skin connected to the infected nerve root.

Because chickenpox is caused by the herpes zoster virus, shingles is sometimes called "zoster."

What are the symptoms of shingles?

Shingles may start with pain, tingling, or itching in a small area of skin on one side of your body. Often this is your chest or belly area. After a few days, symptoms include:

  • Small, fluid-filled blisters in one area of your body

  • Painful areas that are sensitive when touched

  • Sometimes, headache, fever, and feeling tired

Part of a nerve in the face (facial nerve) leading to the eye and ear may also be affected by the virus causing shingles. The infection may cause pain and blisters around the eye and sometimes affects how well you can see. If the ear is affected, it may cause pain and difficulty hearing. Sometimes infection of the facial nerve will stop the muscles in your face from moving.

About 5 days after the blisters form:

How can doctors tell if I have shingles?

Doctors can tell you have shingles by asking about your symptoms and examining your rash. Sometimes they'll take a scraping of the blister or a sample of the fluid inside the blister to examine in the lab.

How do doctors treat shingles?

Doctors will:

  • Prescribe antiviral medicine to lessen your symptoms—these medicines work best when started early, before your blisters form

  • Prescribe pain medicine

  • Have you put a wet cloth on your rash to lessen pain and itching

  • Tell you to avoid scratching the blisters to prevent infection

  • Send you to an eye or ear doctor if your shingles is near your eye or ear

How can I prevent shingles?

NOTE: This is the Consumer Version. DOCTORS: VIEW PROFESSIONAL VERSION
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