What do shingles look like?

Shingles is a form of the herpes virus; its scientific name is herpes zoster virus. The shingles virus is caused by the same virus that causes chicken pox in children, but this viral infection is very painful and it affects the nerve roots. People who have had the chicken pox can become infected with shingles because once you have had the chicken pox, that virus stays in your body in the nerve roots. Most people never have an issue with shingles because the virus stays dormant, but some people, such as people with a weakened immune system have repeated bouts of the shingles.

Both the chicken pox and shingles virus presents in the form of a rash, but the rashes are very distinct, you cannot get shingles unless you have had the chicken pox and once you have had chicken pox you cannot get it again. To help tell the difference between the chicken pox and shingles you will need to discover what the shingles rash looks like. You will also want to know what to look for before the blisters occur. Before you notice a cluster of blisters, you will experience pain, itching, tingling, and burning in a specific location.

These early signs are followed by the shingles rash. The rash starts off as a red base that is slightly swollen in the area that you experienced pain and itching in, you might also experience numbness. The blisters will start off small in the red base, and new blisters will continue to form until the fifth day.

Once the first blister appears, the shingles begin to appear in clusters of blisters that are filled with a clear fluid. The clusters of blisters often only occur on one side of the body and they will only appear on certain parts of the body. You can find shingles on one side of the torso, the waistline, one side of the face, buttocks, arm, or leg.

Any cluster of blisters that you have can continue to have new blisters to appear for up to 5 days from the time the first blister was noticed. After five days, no new blisters will form, but the cluster of blisters will still be present. Most of the blister clusters will last up to fourteen days could be shorter though. Once the fourteen days is up the blisters are going to become filled with pus. Once they have filled with pus they will scab over. When they form a scab the blisters no longer contain the shingle virus, but the rash will still be present. The rash will often last from three to five weeks, depending on the severity of the outbreak.

Once the active outbreak is over the cluster of blisters will appear a darker red because of the scab. The good news about the scabbing is that the scabbing will not leave any scars from the blisters, unless you pick at the scabs. Once the scabs are gone, you might notice a slight discoloration of your skin where the cluster of blisters was, this is not something that will go away.

Like chicken pox, shingles are highly contagious during the active phase. If you have, any open blisters that are oozing fluid you need to stay away from people and take the proper precautions so you don't spread the virus to other people. The only people who can contract the virus from you are people who have not previously had the chicken pox. In this type of infection, you will not be giving them shingles; they will instead get chicken pox.