Red skin spots with painful blisters on the body may be shingles. If you had chickenpox as a child, you are a carrier of the chickenpox virus. Later in life it results in shingles. How do you recognize this condition and what can you do to quickly get rid of the pain and irritation?

Shingles, red skin spots

• Chickenpox virus
• How does it look?
• The cause of shingles
• How to handle this?
• Treatment of red skin spots

Chickenpox virus

If you have red patches of skin with fluid-filled blisters anywhere on the skin, you have shingles. This condition has its origins in the chickenpox virus and often only occurs on one side of the body. The red skin patches can be severely irritating and painful, especially if they occur on the face. The condition can sometimes persist for a long time, but often the condition subsides within a few weeks. How do you get shingles and what can you do about it?

How does it look?

With shingles, red skin patches usually appear in a belt around the left half of your chest. There may also be itching or pain on part of the face, torso, hands and feet. Initially, red discolorations with fluid-filled blisters form within a few days. The number of blisters that break out depends on the person. This could be a few, up to dozens at a time. The number of blisters can also increase with time. As a result, the skin spots are mainly painful at the site of the blisters, and you may also feel flu-like. In some cases there is only itching, without recognizable red spots or blisters. Please note that if it concerns shingles on the face, this can cause diplopia, or you will see double.

The cause of shingles

If you come into contact with chickenpox as a child, you are a lifelong carrier of the chickenpox virus. The virus remains in the skin and lies dormant there until it can become active again later in life. In that case, the chickenpox virus causes shingles. So if you had chickenpox as a child, you can also get shingles. As long as the virus is not active, you will not be affected by it. You normally develop this condition later in life.

How to handle this?

It is of primary importance that you leave the skin alone so that the itching effect is not increased. As long as the fluid is still in the blisters and has not dried, the condition is contagious. Please note that transmission causes chickenpox in children, but does not translate into shingles at that age. Stay away from the blisters as much as possible so that you do not have the fluid on your hands. Always disinfect your hands with disinfectant soap if you have touched the blisters. To reduce irritation, you can put sterile gauze on the blisters so that it does not rub against your clothing. If you have acquaintances who are pregnant, you should avoid contact with them in the first months of pregnancy, because it can be harmful to the unborn child.

Treatment of red skin spots

If the condition is not serious, there will often be no treatment. If the blisters hurt a lot, you can apply zinc ointment to the skin. Zinc ointment ensures that the fluid in the blisters evaporates more quickly, which also reduces contagiousness more quickly. To further reduce the pain, preferably take paracetamol. If you have the condition on your face, you should take Valaciclovir. This allows the virus to be treated more quickly, with pain lasting less time. Please note that this may give you a headache and make you feel nauseous. In most cases, the condition subsides and goes away after two weeks. Sometimes the spots may continue to itch even after the condition has disappeared.

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