Treatment advice

Practical advice for managing shingles is to wear loose-fitting clothes to reduce irritation and to cover lesions that are not under clothes with a non-sticky dressing while the rash is still weeping.

Patients should be advised to avoid work, school or day care if the rash is weeping and cannot be covered. 

Since people could catch chickenpox from someone with shingles if they have not had it before, patients should try to avoid:

• Anyone who is pregnant and has not had chickenpox before
• People with a weakened immune system
• Babies less than one month old.

If the lesions have dried or the rash is covered, avoidance of these is not necessary.

Topical creams and adhesive dressings should generally be avoided as they can cause irritation and delay rash healing.

Other advice includes:

• Keeping the sores clean and dry, but not using scented soaps or bath oils and not rubbing too hard as this will delay healing
• Not letting dressings or plasters stick to the rash
• Applying ice cubes in a plastic bag wrapped in a tea towel. A pack of frozen peas wrapped in a tea towel or a gel ice pack may also help.