charlotte
hello...I am a veteran of shingles on the face/head..severe, yes. I suffer from post herpetic itching..it is severe and constant. NOTHING so far has been able to help me. I understand, as your brother probably does by now, that the nerves were damaged and some destroyed beyond repair. Nerve replenishment happens at the rate of approx one inch per month BUT after awhile I was faced with the fact that nerve damage had occurred beyond repair and the itching seems to be my badge for life..all the usual meds were given with no result..my right eye, inside and outside the lid, eyebrow the worst, forehead and the scalp at hairline the worst and then the area just behind covering the right side of the crown. when gouging and scratching, for instance, my forehead, it is not felt on the forehead per se, but it is felt on the crown of my head as if that is where I am scratching! the nerves are just all fouled up! the whole thing is overpowering at it's worst. Has anyone written you that has a like problem? I am a busy person who has gone on with her life and have been known to pick up a fork in a restaurant to gouge an area when it gets out of control! I say this because I am making a point of how awful it is when it flares up all together! It has been three years now! Folks who have not had the shingles cannot possibly understand the awful pain and aftermath of the darned blasted thing. I literally could not see for months. I lost vision in my right eye due to the blisters on my cornea, although I went to the opthamologist every other day so he could check and put ointment in..help! has anyone mentioned this awful part of the "plague"? my sentiments to your brother. I wish I had some helpful info for him but I do not. charlotte in san leandro, cal.