HealthInfo Aoraki South Canterbury
Shingles
Mate huaketo hei
Shingles is a viral infection caused by the varicella-zoster virus. It is an infection in the nerves and the areas of skin supplied by the nerves. It is more common in adults, especially older people and people with poor immune systems.
You can only get shingles (also known as herpes zoster) if you have previously had chickenpox.
You cannot catch shingles from someone with shingles or chickenpox. But you can catch chickenpox from someone with shingles if you are not immune. This is because there is live virus in the blisters of the rash.
You can get shingles more than once.
Symptoms of shingles
The first symptom of shingles is usually pain, felt in 1 spot or over a wider area of skin. The pain may be a tingling, itching or burning feeling. You may also have a headache and fever and generally feel unwell.
A rash usually appears within 1 to 3 days after the pain starts, but it can take up to 10 days for the rash to appear. It shows on 1 area of skin on 1 side of your body, such as in a line around your chest or tummy. It can affect your face or scalp.
The rash starts red, then over a day or 2 develops into small blisters that dry off over a few days. You can see what the shingles rash looks like on DermNet.
The symptoms usually go away in 2 to 3 weeks. But for older people it can take 3 to 4 weeks. Some people have ongoing pain, called postherpetic neuralgia.
Diagnosing shingles
If you think you may have shingles, see a general practice team within 2 to 3 days of getting a rash.
This is particularly important if the rash is near your eye, you are pregnant or you have a poor immune system.
Self-care with shingles
- Keep the affected area clean and dry. Use simple absorbent dressings to cover the rash. This will help stop you passing it on.
- A damp cool cloth on the affected area may relieve itchiness and pain.
- Wear loose clothing to reduce rubbing on the blisters.
- Do not scratch the blisters. Scratching can spread the virus and cause scarring.
- Creams such as calamine or povidone-iodine may help the itch.
- Avoid direct contact with other people, particularly people whose immune systems do not work well (immunocompromised). Also, pēpi (babies) aged under 1 year and pregnant women.
Treating shingles
You can get relief from pain with simple pain medicines such as paracetamol. If the pain is very severe, you may need stronger pain relief such as codeine or tramadol. Your doctor may give you antiviral medicines such as valaciclovir or aciclovir to try and reduce the severity of your shingles. These medicines are more likely to help if you start them within 3 days of the rash starting. But you can start them up to 7 days after you see a rash.
If you have ongoing pain, your doctor may treat it with capsaicin cream and medicines to treat nerve pain.
Preventing shingles
The Shingrix vaccine is used to protect adults against shingles. You get it as 2 injections, 2 to 6 months apart.
Shingrix is funded for 65-year-olds. This means you can get free vaccinations at your general practice and some pharmacies.
It is also free for people who are 18 years of age and over and who have health conditions that increase their risk of shingles. This includes people with weakened immune systems. See Eligibility criteria for immunocompromised people for more information.
If you are between 50 and 65, or 66 or older, you can get the vaccinations at your general practice and some pharmacies. But you will have to pay for them.
You can have the vaccinations even if you have previously had shingles as they can help stop you getting shingles again.
HealthInfo recommends the following pages
- Patient.info – Shingles
Comprehensive information about shingles, including its symptoms and treatment.
Written by HealthInfo clinical advisers. Last reviewed May 2025.
SourcesReview key: HISHI-513140
