Shingles Infection

Shingles is considered a viral infection that gives you a very painful and sometimes hard to get rid of rash. It can occur anywhere on your body but is usually on the trunk of your body. It is usually a band of blisters that you can see. Shingles is caused by the virus that causes chicken pox. You usually have chicken pox as a kid and then it stays inactive in your body for usually decades until it comes back as shingles.

Vaccines can reduce the risk of getting shingles and early treatment can help to shorten the time you have to put up with shingles and lessen the chances of complications. The most common symptoms are: red rash, pain which can be really painful, burning, numbness, itching, bad fatigue, headaches that are persistent, fever and chills. The first symptom is usually pain which you may not know why you have the pain.

For some people the pain sticks around for a very long time. If you get it in your eye it can cause eye infections and maybe even vision loss which is rare but can happen. Shingles is usually diagnosed by physical exam the doctor will normally recognize it just by looking at it they will be able to tell that you have shingles.