SUNDAY, Dec. 8, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Shingles can strike anyone who had chickenpox when they were young, and the intense pain that can accompany this body rash has sidelined many a senior.

Here, one expert explains how and why shingles can surface, and what you can do to treat it, or better yet, avoid it.

Shingles can happen at any age, but it most typically affects people over 50 who have stress and compromised immunity.

“Shingles is caused by the varicella-zoster virus. It’s the same virus that causes chickenpox,” said Dr. Eugene Fellin, a family medicine physician at Penn State Health Medical Group – Fleetwood. “For most of us who grew up before the 1990s, when children began being immunized against chickenpox, we’ve been exposed to the virus and are at risk for shingles.”

How can shingles surface? After lying dormant in the nervous system for years, the virus can reemerge as shingles, which causes painful rashes that typically surface on the face or around the side of the torso, Fellin explained.

“It’s like a poison ivy rash that won’t go away,” he added in a Penn State news release.

“It can occur in patches, but along that same nerve root. A lot of times, people feel some tingling or a burning sensation prior to the rash actually breaking out,” Fellin noted. “When we’re looking for the rash, it will be in a string on the torso because the nerves wrap around the torso. You get a line around you, from the back to the front.”

“The other issue we worry about is if it breaks out on the face and involves the eye because this can lead to blindness,” Fellin said. “Shingles around the eye is considered dangerous, and an instant referral to an ophthalmologist is always recommended.”

What can you take to treat shingles? Antivirals such as Valacyclovir can be prescribed, but they’re time-sensitive and need to be taken within 36 hours of the start of the rash because they work by slowing the spread of the virus, Fellin said.

While symptoms subside after three to five weeks, pain can sometimes return in the form of postherpetic neuralgia, he said. This long-term nerve pain occurs where the shingles rash appeared and can last for months or even years. Older adults are more likely to develop postherpetic neuralgia and have longer lasting and more severe pain, Fellin said.

Luckily, there is something you can do to avoid shingles altogether: get vaccinated.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends the Shingrix vaccine, given in two doses, with the second dose given two to six months after the first.

People who get shingles can still receive the vaccine, which can lower the chances of another outbreak, Fellin noted.

Most family doctors and pharmacies stock the vaccine, which is covered by Medicare, he added.

“Most insurance programs are covering it because it has been out long enough and shows a real benefit,” Fellin said in a Penn State news release. “There’s a lot of misinformation about vaccines circulating out there. My message is this: Don’t be afraid of this or any vaccine.”

SOURCE: Penn State Health, news release, Dec. 5, 2024