What is shingles?

 Shingles is a viral infection that results from the varicella-zoster virus (VZV), the same virus that causes chickenpox. It typically affects a single sensory nerve ganglion and the skin surface that the nerve supplies.

Anyone who has had chickenpox can later develop shingles.

In fact, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an estimated 1 in 3 people in the United States develop shingles during their lifetime.

However, a person can only develop shingles if they have had chickenpox or exposure to the virus that causes it. This virus can lie dormant for years.

Most adults with the dormant virus never develop shingles, but for some, the virus reactivates several times.

Shingles is most common after the age of 50 years, but it can appear at any age if a person has previously had chickenpox.

In this article, learn more about shingles, including symptoms, complications, and treatments.

Symptoms

Shingles usually affects one side of the body. This is most often the waist, chest, abdomen, or back. Symptoms can also appear on the face and in the eyes, mouth, ears. The virus can also affect some internal organs.

Shingles typically affects a single sensory nerve ganglion near the spinal cord, called a dorsal root ganglion. This is why the symptoms occur in specific areas of the body, rather than all over it. The pain results from nerve involvement, rather than the rash itself.

In fact, some people have pain but no rash. Others, meanwhile, may have a rash with pain that is accompanied by other symptoms, such as fever, chills, or headache.

Symptoms can vary in nature, depending on where on the body they appear.

Common symptoms

Some of the most common symptoms of shingles include:

• a constant dull, burning, or gnawing pain, or a sharp, stabbing pain that comes and goes
• a skin rash that resembles a chickenpox rash but only affects certain areas
• fluid-filled blisters that develop as part of the rash

Symptoms on the body

A blistering skin rash may appear in one or more distinct bands with sensory nerves of the skin, called dermatomes.

Common locations for this include:

• the chest
• the abdomen
• the back
• around the waist

It usually occurs only on one side of the body.

The location of the symptoms will depend on which dermatome distribution the virus affects.

Facial symptoms

If the rash affects the face, symptoms usually appear on one side only — usually around one eye and the forehead.

They can include:

• pain over the affected dermatome
• a rash
• muscle weakness
• headache

Eye symptoms

If the virus affects an ophthalmic nerve, it means that a person has herpes zoster ophthalmicus.

This can cause pain, redness, and swelling in and around the eye, as well as temporary or permanent loss of vision.

Ear symptoms

Shingles can also occur in or around the ear, leading to problems with balance and hearing, as well as muscle weakness on the affected side of the face.

These changes can be long term or even permanent. A person who develops symptoms in or around the ears and eyes should seek immediate medical attention to reduce the risk of complications.

Mouth symptoms

If shingles affects the mouth, a person may experience:

• facial tenderness
• pain in the mouth
• toothache
• lesions in hard and soft palate tissues

The pain and discomfort of these symptoms can make it difficult to eat or drink.

Internal shingles

Shingles can also affect the internal organs. There will not be a rash, but other problems can arise.

For example, researchers have found evidence of shingles in the digestive system, which can lead to gastrointestinal dysfunction, and in the arteries in the brain, which may increase the risk of stroke and dementia.

Source: Medical News Today