Shingles is an infection that causes a painful rash. Get advice from your local medical authorities as soon as possible if you think you have it.
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 shingles on your chest and tummy, but it can appear on your face, eyes, and genitals.
The shingles rash appears as red 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.
The blotches become itchy blisters that ooze fluid. A few days later, the blisters dry out and scab.
The rash can form a cluster that only appears on 1 side of your body. The skin remains painful until after the rash has gone.
Shingles can also make your eye red and sore, affect your sight or hearing, or make it difficult to move 1 side of your face.
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