Treatment-For

Shingles - All About Shingles Treatment

January 20th, 2006

Treatment for Shingles

Shingles Treatment

Shingles causes a painful rash on a localised area of the skin. Shingles rash only ever appears on one side of your body - it never crosses the midline. If you have a rash that’s present on both sides of your body then it almost certainly is not due to shingles.

Shingles is caused by the same virus that causes chickenpox - and it follows from this that only people who have previously had chickenpox can develop shingles in later life.

Shingles can affect children but it is much more common in adults.

Shingles is more common in the winter and seems more common when there is a lot of childhood chickenpox around in the community.

Shingles is no more than a nuiscance for most people - a blistering rash appears - stays for a week or so, crusts over and then fades. But some people develop ongoing burning nerve pain in the region that was affected by the shingles. This is called post shingles nerve pain - or postherpetic neuralgia to give its full medical name.

Shingles sometimes occurs around the eye. This can be a serious problem. See your doctor immediately if you think this applies to you.

The chickenpox virus can also be dangerous if you catch it when you are pregnant. If you think you have shingles then warn pregnant women to stay away for a few days until the spots crust over.

Shingles can also lead to other complications, including inflammation of the brain (encephalitis) and other neurological problems. If shingles occurs on your face, it can cause hearing problems and temporary or permanent blindness. Loss of facial movement (paralysis) is possible as well. If blisters aren’t properly treated, bacterial skin infections are another potential problem.

Shingles Signs
An attack of shingles usually starts with a burning pain in an area of skin. The blister spots appear a few days later. The sufferer may feel shivery or unwell for a few days. Once the spots appear the pain often becomes less severe.

You can’t catch shingles from another person - but, since the blisters contain the chickenpox virus, you might catch chickenpox if you haven’t had it before.

Shingles Treatment
Most shingles episodes heal by themselves without treatment.

Doctors often prescribe a course of anti-viral or anti-shingles virus tablets. There are several of these but the commonest is Acyclovir (often called Zovirax), Famicyclovir or Valcyclovir. The earlier shingles treatment is started, the more effective it is. Early shingles treatment can reduce pain severity and lessens the risk of post herpetic pain.

For more shingles treatment information you can follow these links:

Shingles from the CNN health Library

The Mayo Clinic Shingles Treatment page

Understanding Shingles Treatment from WebMD

Entry Filed under: Skin Treatment, General Interest