Shingles, the commonly known name for the disease called Herpes zoster. This is a viral infection characterized by a skin rash that can be very painful that is accompanied by blisters, usually in a limited area on one side of the body. The initial infection, the short lived chicken pox virus, generally hits youth and is not usually eliminated from the body and can go on to cause shingles, an entirely different illness with different symptoms.

Shingles often occur many years after the initial chicken pox illness and is a nerve related virus, traveling around nerve axons.The rash that accompanies this illness can travel to more than one nerve axon and affects many different areas. Although this rash usually subsides within two to four weeks, some people experience residual nerve pain for months or years after.

Early symptoms of this illness include headache, fever, and malaise then commonly followed by burning pain, itching, and oversensitivity of the region affected. Then a rash presents itself in the appearance of hives. After the initial appearance these hives start changing into blisters that are liquid filled before drying up, scabbing and falling off within 7-10 days of the onset. Sometimes these scabs can cause scarring or discolorations on the skin. The pain can be mild but can be severe, depending upon the nerves affected. Some descriptions of this pain are throbbing, aching, stinging, tingling and stabs of pain, although this form of the herpes virus is often painless in children. The most common occurrence of this rash is documented to be on the torso, but can occur on the face, scalp and genital regions of the body.

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