What Do Shingles Look Like On Black Skin

How Does Hiv Rash Look On Black Or Dark Skin

Shingles: Signs, Symptoms and Treatment with Dr. Mark Shalauta | San Diego Health

Theres no one-size-fits-all or one-look-fits-all, as it were when it comes to an HIV rash. It can show up in a range of colors, depending on your skins base color. On melanin-rich skin, the raised area may look purple. The small bumps on the raised area may look flesh-colored, white, red, or purple. It may also appear on your hands or feet instead of your trunk and face.

What Are The Stages Of Shingles Symptoms

There are no formal, clinical stages of shingles, but symptoms generally fall into three stages. Beginning to end, shingles can last 24 weeks.

Contact your doctor right away if you have symptoms of shingles. Early treatment with antiviral medication may help lessen the severity, speed recovery time, and lower the potential for complications.

Is Shingles Herpes Zoster Contagious

Shingles cannot be transmitted from someone who has shingles. Rather, it can only occur when a person who has already been infected with the herpes zoster virus experiences a change in their immune systems ability to fight off the virus. However, a person with an active shingles infection can transmit chickenpox to someone that has not had the virus. The virus can be transferred until the blisters crust over, which takes about a week.

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What Are The Risk Factors For Shingles

In the United States, 1 in 3 people will develop shingles in their lifetime. There are about 1 million cases a year. A number of factors increase your risk of reactivating the dormant varicella zoster virus and developing shingles including:

Being an older adult with a history of having had chickenpox who has not had the shingles vaccination. Half of people ages 85 or older will have developed shingles.

Having a condition that weakens the immune system, such as HIV/AIDS, , chemotherapy, or an organ transplant

Having a weakened or impaired immune system, which also increases the risk for having recurring episodes of shingles

The risk of shingles is 10 times greater in people ages 80 and older than people ages 10 and younger. Much of the increase in shingles risk occurs around age 50, which is why the vaccine was originally tested in and approved for people ages 50 and older.

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Why Does Shingles Appear On Only One Side Of The Body

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The varicella-zoster virus is active in specific nerves, so shingles often appears where these nerves are located, mainly in a band along one side of the body. This band corresponds to the area where the nerves transmit signals. The shingles rash stays somewhat localized to an area, and it does not spread over your whole body.

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How Can I Take Care Of Myself

Take a pain-relief medicine such as acetaminophen. Take other medicine as prescribed by your healthcare provider.
Put cool, moist washcloths on the rash.
Rest in bed during the early stages if you have fever and other symptoms.
Try not to let clothing or bed linens rub against the rash and irritate it.
You develop worsening pain or fever.
You develop a severe headache, stiff neck, hearing loss, or changes in your ability to think.
The blisters show signs of bacterial infection, such as increasing pain or redness, or milky yellow drainage from the blister sites.
The blisters are close to the eyes or you have pain in your eyes or trouble seeing.
You have trouble walking.

Urgent Advice: Get Advice From 111 As Soon As You Suspect Shingles

You might need medicine to help speed up your recovery and avoid longer-lasting problems.

This works best if taken within 3 days of your symptoms starting.

111 will tell you what to do. They can arrange a phone call from a nurse or doctor if you need one.

Go to 111.nhs.uk or .

Get an urgent GP appointment

A GP may be able to treat you.

Ask your GP surgery for an urgent appointment.

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How Do I Treat A Heat Rash

Depending on the severity of your heat rash, you can treat your rash at home by:

Keeping your skin cool and dry: Use a fan or air conditioner to cool your body down if the temperature is hot or humid. Take a cool shower and either lightly pat your skin dry with a towel or let your body air dry to prevent further irritation.
Wearing cotton clothing: Choose clothing items made of cotton that allow airflow between the material and your skin. Avoid synthetic materials that often trap heat.
Eliminating friction: Loose-fitting clothing is best to wear around a heat rash to avoid irritation. For heat rashes around your groin area, you could temporarily avoid wearing undergarments to reduce the amount of clothing rubbing against your rash. Babies should also go a few hours without a diaper for heat rashes that affect their diaper region.
Using anti-itch medications: If you have severe itching or pain from your heat rash, your healthcare provider might recommend using a corticosteroid cream or calamine lotion to soothe the area.
Taking medicine to treat any fevers: If your heat rash is induced by fever, try taking an over-the-counter medication, such as Tylenol® or ibuprofen, to bring down your temperature.

The Shingles Vaccine Can Prevent Shingles

How to treat shingles

The best way to prevent shingles is to get the shingles vaccine, known as Shingrix.

The CDC

Regardless of your age, its important to see a healthcare professional right away if you develop symptoms of shingles. Antiviral drugs can help reduce the severity and duration of illness as well as lower your risk of complications.

Seeking timely medical attention is particularly important if you have:

severe symptoms
shingles that affect a large area of skin
shingles around the area of your eyes, ears, or face
a weakened immune system

Antiviral drugs are most effective when started within 72 hours after the rash begins. Because of this, dont hesitate to seek care if you suspect that you have shingles.

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Prevent Shingles Or Another Shingles Outbreak:

A vaccine may be given to help prevent shingles. You can get the vaccine even if you already had shingles. The vaccine comes in 2 forms. A 2-dose vaccine is usually given to adults 50 years or older. A 1-dose vaccine may be given to adults 60 years or older.
The vaccine can help prevent a future outbreak. If you do get shingles again, the vaccine can keep it from becoming severe. Ask your healthcare provider about other vaccines you may need.

Shingles Or Something Else

Small blisters that appear only on the lips or around the mouth may be cold sores, sometimes called fever blisters. Theyre not shingles, but are instead caused by the herpes simplex virus. Itchy blisters that appear after hiking, gardening, or spending time outdoors could be a reaction to poison ivy, oak, or sumac. If you arent sure whats causing your rash, see your healthcare provider.

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Whats The Best Treatment For Shingles

Youre going to want to get yourself to your doctor at the first sensation of discomfort, and certainly the first sign of the rash. Thats because treatment is most effective if its started as soon as possible. You can expect to take at least one and possibly several prescription medications. There are also over-the-counter therapies you can try to help ease the discomfort of shingles while the illness runs its course.

Shingles Vaccine Side Effects

DISEASES YOU SHOULD WATCH OUT FOR THIS SUMMER

The shingles vaccine has not been shown to cause any serious side effects or health consequences. Minor side effects of the vaccine include redness, swelling, soreness, or itching at the site of injection, and headache. It is safe for those who have received the shingles vaccine to be around babies or those with weakened immune systems. It has not been shown that a person can develop chickenpox from getting the shingles vaccine, although some people who receive the vaccine may develop a mild chickenpox-like rash near the injection site. This rash should be kept covered and will disappear on its own.

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How Can You Prevent Spreading The Virus

You cant give shingles to someone else, but the varicella-zoster virus is very contagious. If you have shingles and you expose someone else who has not had chickenpox or the chickenpox vaccine, you can give them the virus. Theyll get chickenpox, not shingles, but this puts them at risk for shingles later on.

Youre contagious when your blisters are oozing, or after they break and before they crust over. Do the following to avoid spreading the virus to others:

Keep your rash covered, especially when the blisters are active.
Try not to touch, rub, or scratch your rash.
Wash your hands thoroughly and often.

Avoid contact with people whove never had chickenpox or the chickenpox vaccine, especially:

Common Symptoms Of Shingles

The most common symptoms of shingles are:

sensation of an itching, tingling, or severe burning or shooting pain that precedes a rash
painful rash in a band or patch-like shape over the affected area
fluid-filled blisters that eventually dry out, crust over, and heal

Other symptoms may include chills, upset stomach, fever, and headache.

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Psoriasis Forms Red Patches On The Skin

Psoriasis is an autoimmune disease that is easy to confuse with the shingles rash. As with the shingles virus, psoriasis forms red patches on the skin, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine. One type of psoriasis pustular can lead to the development of blisters. Areas of skin affected by psoriasis often develop into silvery scales on the scalp, elbows, knees, and lower back. Treatment can help control the condition.

Causes Of Chicken Pox

What is Shingles?

The varicella-zoster virus causes chicken pox. Its spread through close contact with a person who has chicken pox and appears 10 to 21 days after exposure. The disease is contagious from a day or two before the rash appears until the blisters have all scabbed over.

The virus that causes chicken pox also causes shingles, a disease that causes fever, headache, chills and a painful rash, usually in older adults the pain from shingles can last for months or years, even after the rash is gone. People who have shingles can also spread chicken pox to others.

People develop shingles all the time, so theres still potential for exposure, Murase said.

A vaccine is available to protect older people from developing shingles.

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Can Shingles Be Cured

Shingles usually resolves on its own within a few weeks. Oral antiviral treatment may help clear the rash sooner and can reduce its unpleasant effects.

Rare complications which could occur when the outbreak is on the face:

Shingles affecting the face may spread to the eye leading to inflammation and ulceration in the eye, and later to scarring, which if untreated could lead to vision problems or blindness. Blisters coming up on the side of the nose will alert your doctor to this risk, and you should also get urgent advice from an eye specialist .
Muscles in the area affected by shingles occasionally become weak and there may be temporary facial paralysis on the shingles-affected side of the face.

The pain caused by shingles may persist long after the rash has cleared, particularly in the elderly. This is called postherpetic neuralgia and may persist for a long time. Postherpetic neuralgia requires a very different kind of treatment and the GP will be able to advise the best treatment for this.

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What Does A Heat Rash Look Like

A heat rash has a distinctive appearance, but when trying to determine whether or not you have one, its also important to think about the circumstances of the skin rash, Dr. Aigen says. For example, did you spend a lot of time outside on an unusually hot day? Did you go to an outdoor boot camp in the blazing sun? Did you wake up soaked from sweat in bed? You get the picture. This is what to look for with heat rash:

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Check If You Have Shingles

The first signs of shingles can be:

a tingling or painful feeling in an area of skin
a headache or feeling generally unwell

A rash will appear a few days later.

Usually you get the shingles rash on your chest and tummy, but it can appear anywhere on your body including on your face, eyes and genitals.

The rash appears as blotches on your skin, on 1 side of your body only. A rash on both the left and right of your body is unlikely to be shingles.

Home Remedies For Shingles

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Self-care for shingles at home includes:

applying calamine lotion or other creams to soothe the skin and relieve pain
cleaning the rash area gently to prevent bacterial infection
placing cool compresses on blisters to lessen pain and help the blisters heal
drinking plenty of water and other healthy liquids
reducing stress as much as possible, such as walking every day and eating nutritious food
resting, contact your doctor if pain is making it difficult to sleep

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Who Should Not Get The Vaccine

Do not get the shingles vaccine if:

You have a severe allergic reaction, such as anaphylaxis, to any ingredient of a vaccine or to a previous dose of Shingrix
You have shingles now.
You are sick with an illness and a fever of 101Â°F or higher.
You should also consider delaying the vaccine if you are pregnant or breastfeeding. Not enough is known about its safety for expectant and lactating women.
You have had a negative test for varicella this would be uncommon for adults eligible for the vaccine, as most adults worldwide ages 50 and older have been exposed to the virus. You do not have to be tested before getting the vaccine.

What Are The Signs & Symptoms Of Chickenpox

Chickenpox often starts without the classic rash, with a fever, headache, sore throat, or stomachache. These symptoms may last for a few days, with the fever in the 101°102°F range.

The red, itchy skin rash usually starts on the belly or back and face. Then it spreads to almost everywhere else on the body, including the scalp, mouth, arms, legs, and genitals.

The rash begins as many small red bumps that look like pimples or insect bites. They appear in waves over 2 to 4 days, then develop into thin-walled blisters filled with fluid. The blister walls break, leaving open sores, which finally crust over to become dry, brown scabs.

All three stages of the chickenpox rash appear on the body at the same time. The rash may spread wider or be more severe in kids who have weak immune systems or skin disorders like eczema.

Can Shingles Be Prevented

There are 2 vaccines available to reduce the likelihood of developing shingles, Zostavax and Shingrix. If you are over 50, you can talk to your doctor about whether you need it. It is recommended for everyone over 60 and is given free of charge in Australia to people aged 70 to 79.

Vaccination will not guarantee that you will not get shingles, but it will reduce your chance of developing the condition. The vaccine used to protect against shingles is not the same as the vaccine used to protect against chickenpox. Read more about the chickenpox vaccine here.

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