{"id":3438,"date":"2025-07-14T14:20:35","date_gmt":"2025-07-14T14:20:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tidolore.ch\/postherpetic-neuralgia-pain-after-herpes-zoster-shingles\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T18:47:05","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T18:47:05","slug":"postherpetic-neuralgia-pain-after-herpes-zoster-shingles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tidolore.ch\/en\/postherpetic-neuralgia-pain-after-herpes-zoster-shingles\/","title":{"rendered":"Postherpetic Neuralgia (Pain after Herpes Zoster \/ Shingles)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What is it?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n<p>Postherpetic neuralgia is the most common chronic complication of herpes zoster. It is a neuropathic pain caused by damage to sensory nerves during varicella-zoster virus infection. <\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>How often does it occur?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n<p>About <strong>20% of patients with herpes zoster<\/strong> report pain still present <strong>after 3 months<\/strong>, and <strong>15%<\/strong> have persistent pain <strong>after 2 years<\/strong> from onset.<br\/>The risk increases with age: from <strong>8% in patients aged 50-54 years<\/strong> to <strong>21% between 80-84 years<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Typical Symptoms<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Continuous burning pain<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Paroxysmal shocks<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Allodynia (pain from just light touch of the skin)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Itching or hypoesthesia in the affected skin area (dermatome)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Diagnosis<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>History of herpes zoster + pain persisting for \u226590 days<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Clinical neurological evaluation<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>No specific diagnostic tests required<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Treatments<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Topical Treatment<\/h3>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Lidocaine 5% patches<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>High-concentration capsaicin patch (8%)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Systemic Treatment<\/h3>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Tricyclic antidepressants (amitriptyline, nortriptyline)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Gabapentin or pregabalin<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Opioids (only in refractory cases and under close supervision)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Neurostimulation<\/h3>\n\n<p>When local treatments or medications are not enough, <strong>neuromodulation<\/strong> can be considered, a technique that uses <strong>electrical impulses<\/strong> to &#8220;calm&#8221; pain signals:<\/p>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/tidolore.ch\/en\/transcutaneous-electrical-nerve-stimulation\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"1851\">Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation<\/a> (TENS)<\/strong><br\/>A portable device that sends small electrical impulses through the skin.<br\/>It can help <strong>reduce pain without medication<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/tidolore.ch\/en\/spinal-cord-neurostimulation\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"1703\">Spinal cord stimulation<\/a> (SCS)<\/strong><br\/>A minimally invasive procedure indicated in some cases <strong>resistant to medications<\/strong>.<br\/>A small electrode is implanted near the spinal cord to <strong>block pain<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Interventional Therapies<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n<p>Not routinely recommended: insufficient evidence for sympathetic blocks or intrathecal injections.<\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Prevention<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n<p>Herpes zoster vaccination is <strong>the only effective way<\/strong> to prevent postherpetic neuralgia.<br\/>It reduces the incidence of zoster by <strong>51%<\/strong> and PHN by <strong>66%<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is it? Postherpetic neuralgia is the most common chronic complication of herpes zoster. It is a neuropathic pain caused by damage to sensory nerves during varicella-zoster virus infection. How often does it occur? About 20% of patients with herpes zoster report pain still present after 3 months, and 15% have persistent pain after 2 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4157,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sindrome"],"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/tidolore.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/dreamstime_m_89592011.jpg",2121,1414,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/tidolore.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/dreamstime_m_89592011.jpg",2121,1414,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/tidolore.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/dreamstime_m_89592011.jpg",2121,1414,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/tidolore.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/dreamstime_m_89592011-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/tidolore.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/dreamstime_m_89592011-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"large":["https:\/\/tidolore.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/dreamstime_m_89592011-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/tidolore.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/dreamstime_m_89592011-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/tidolore.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/dreamstime_m_89592011-2048x1365.jpg",2048,1365,true]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/tidolore.ch\/en\/author\/administrator\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"<a href=\"https:\/\/tidolore.ch\/en\/category\/sindrome\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Sindrome<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"What is it? Postherpetic neuralgia is the most common chronic complication of herpes zoster. It is a neuropathic pain caused by damage to sensory nerves during varicella-zoster virus infection. How often does it occur? About 20% of patients with herpes zoster report pain still present after 3 months, and 15% have persistent pain after 2&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tidolore.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tidolore.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tidolore.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tidolore.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tidolore.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3438"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/tidolore.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3438\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4367,"href":"https:\/\/tidolore.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3438\/revisions\/4367"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tidolore.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tidolore.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tidolore.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tidolore.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}