What is "shingles"?

What is "shingles"?

Rebecca Fitzgerald (Dermatologist) gives expert video advice on: What are the most common symptoms of shingles?; Who are most at risk for contracting shingles?; What can I do to reduce the amount of pain caused by shingles? and more...

Shingles is a recrudescence of an old chicken pox infection. The virus that causes chicken pox never really leaves the body. Instead, it just becomes latent in something called the dorsal root ganglion, along the side of the spine. In certain conditions, in the elderly or in someone with an underlying disease or illness, that virus can reactivate. Interestingly, because of it's position in the dorsal root ganglion, it will only reactivate on one side of the body. The shingles rash follows the distribution of the nerve on one side of the body only.