Shingles - is the infectious disease, characterized by the sharp pain, blistery skin eruption, fever and weakness. Mostly it hits people, which are over their fifties. The older the patient - the more difficult it is for him to fight with the virus. Pain symptom is more intensive in the advanced citizens and complications are observed more often. Yet, anyone can catch it.
Clinic pictures of shingles disease
The first stage of the disease shows itself by weakness, headaches, fever, queasiness, nausea. Simultaneously pain, burning and itching may appear along the route of the peripheral verve stems in the area of the future eruption. The intensity of such subjective local symptoms differs from patient to patient. The duration of the prime varies from 1 to 3-4 days; it is mostly observed in adults, rather than in children.
In most cases shingles starts rather drastic. The fever can reach 38-39 C. Simultaneously appears skin eruption with strong pain syndrome.
At first the eruption appears in the form of pink spots 2-5 mm big, however on the following stage they turn into the small closely grouped vesicles with transparent fluid inside. In most cases the eruption is accompanied sore lymph glands near the hurt nerve.
Shingles treatment
Shingles symptoms in women
Shingles symptoms in men
Shingles photos
The rash appears according to the corresponding nerve segment. Usually the clinical shingles pictures show that infection hurt only one side along the route of the intercostal nerves (patient on the picture 1), branches of the trigeminal nerve on the face, more rarely on the limb nerves. There are cases observed when the rash hurts the skin the genitals area. In the dynamic development new blisters can appear; but after a few days more the skin gets paler and the fluid thickens, later the vesicles get dry and cover with the solid caps, till the end of the third week of the shingles development they will fall off leaving the slight pigmentation.
Fever keeps high during the several days, toxicosis symptoms disappear with the normalization of the temperature.
Collection of shingles pictures and herpes.
Generalizable form.
Sometimes several days after the local eruption appears multiple vesicles show up on the whole skin (see picture 2) and even on the mucus membranes, which can be wrongly confused with the symptoms of the chicken-pox. With such overall skin eruption, and also if the common local rash does not disappear within 2-3 weeks, some immunodeficient disease or cancer shold be suspected.
Shingles pictures in women
Shingles pictures in men
Images of shingles rash
Abbreviated form. It is characterized by quick disappearing of the blistery rash and almost painless symptoms.
Bullosa form.
Vesicles grow together in the big blisters, which fluid can obtain hemorrhagic content (hemorrhagic form) - illustrated on the picture 4. Sometimes the blisters erupt so tightly they form a single line; when it gets dry a long stripe-like solid crust appears (necrotic form) - picture 3 .
The complication of shingles can be very often connected with the location of the eruption. There are cases, where rash appeared on the place of supraorbital, frontal or nasociliary nerve supply as shown on the picture 5. Such areas are more painful, and complications involve skin suffusion and edema, eyelids and sometimes even cornea damage.
The duration of the clinical symptoms commonly comprises several days, some cases about 2 - 3 weeks, and if the infection seriously hurts the nerves - more than a month.
Shingles pains are of a distinct egital character: they are burning, attack-like, get stronger during the nighttime. Skin paresthesia and numbness in the hurt areas are common things, which add to the full picture of this infection.
The first episode of shingles is usually followed by a sustained response. Disease recurig is observed only in the minor part of cases. Most patients finish their treatment without residual effects, however, neuralgic pain can remain for a long time, during several months or years.