What are Herpes Zoster Shingles?
Herpes Zoster Shingles is most commonly known as simply shingles. It is skin disease which is cussed by a virus named as Herpes virus. This is the same virus that causes chickenpox too. Shingles is a common term used by most of the people. In scientific terms, the name of this disease is Herpes Zoster.
Herpes Zoster is a more severe form of simple chickenpox. The pain is much more in this case and the patient is always in state of high discomfort. It is a viral disease, antibiotics are available for pain relief but no medicine can actually cure this disease completely. As the virus completes its cycle within the human body, this disease also goes with it. But the effects of Herpes Zoster are very long lasting.
Firstly the patient never forgets the pain he had suffered from during this critical period. Most of the people who have suffered from Herpes Zoster have the same opinion about this pain. They simply can’t compare this pain to any other pain. Secondly, in some cases, permanent marks are there on the affected area of the skin. Herpes Zoster doesn’t spread all over the body rather it is restricted to one area only forming a specific pattern.
The virus attacks one of the nerves in the nervous system. If the body immune system is weak and it allows this virus to affect the nervous system, rashes are formed on the affected skin area over this nerve. These rashes ultimately turn into blisters and have a fluid filled in them. Herpes Zoster blisters always have a red base.
The patient comes to know that he is suffering from this problem when he sees the rashes and blisters. But there is pain underneath the skin as well. Sometimes, there is only pain and the other symptoms like rashes and blisters are not there. Such situation makes it very difficult for the patient to identify the reason behind the pain since he is unable to see anything on his skin.
Herpes Zoster is cured only to a certain extent through proper medication. Herpes Zoster vaccine is also available which makes it easy to avoid this skin disease at the first place. The worst thing about this skin problem is the complications related to it. These complications like headache and paralysis can be even more severe than Herpes Zoster itself.