Shingles Treatment in NYC

Shingles is a painful and unpleasant experience all around. While there is no direct cure for this viral infection, a professional dermatologist can help you get relief from your symptoms and speed up your body’s healing process. At MD Skin Science, we provide patients in NYC with effective shingles treatment to help them through the condition with minimal discomfort.

At MD Skin Science, our team is dedicated to helping our patients have healthy skin that looks and feels great. We aim to provide top-of-the-line cosmetic and non-surgical treatments to our patients to help them achieve clear and healthy skin, including solutions for symptom relief of shingles and other skin conditions.

What Are Shingles?

Caused by the same virus that results in chickenpox as a child, shingles often appears as a painful rash. While it can occur anywhere on your body, it tends to show up as a single stripe of blisters around one side of your torso. If you had smallpox as a child, the virus can lie dormant until adulthood, where it makes a reappearance as shingles.

While the virus is not life-threatening, it can certainly be a painful and awful experience. This is why Dr. Clark and her team are proud to provide top-of-the-line shingles treatments to lessen your symptoms and make the overall experience less unpleasant. 

Common signs and symptoms of shingles include:

• First, some pain, numbness, or tingle along the skin
• Then increased sensitivity in the area
• Next a rash appears 
• As it progresses, fluid-filled blisters may form
• Throughout it all, itching around the area

What Is Shingles Treatment Like?

Since shingles has no complete cure, treatment focuses on helping patients find relief from their symptoms. An outbreak typically lasts two to six weeks, which can seem like an eternity if you have no medication to help with the pain and other symptoms. When you come in for your evaluation and consultation, you can discuss your symptoms with Dr. Clark. Since shingles can cause different symptoms and occur in different body areas for patients, it is important to work with a professional dermatologist who can match you with the right treatment for you. 

Treatments include:

• Antiviral medications
• Topical patches or creams
• Numbing agents or local anesthetics
• Corticosteroid injections
• And more

Should I Have My Shingles Treated?

For some patients, a shingles outbreak may be minor and hardly noticeable. However, in most cases, the symptoms can prove significantly painful and interrupt your daily life. If you want relief from symptoms, then your best option is to come visit our expert dermatologist and get a personalized treatment plan.

Seeking out treatment can also help prevent additional complications from the virus. For example, untreated shingles blisters can put you at risk for developing additional bacterial infections. That is why we recommend most patients seek shingles treatment as soon as they begin noticing the first signs, as mitigating symptoms early on is easier. If you suspect you are developing shingles, call us today to set up your first appointment with Dr. Clark.

When Can I See Results?

For some treatments, you should be able to feel the results immediately. Treatments that focus on providing pain relief are typically fast-acting and noticeable within a short amount of time. Treatments that focus on reducing the outbreak or protecting your skin may be more gradual, but you should still begin to see results quickly. Dr. Clark will provide you with complete information about whichever shingles treatment you receive, so you can know what to expect for your results and when to expect them.

If you have any questions during your treatment or continue to experience significant symptoms, we are always by your side. We can try additional treatments or alter your current treatment to improve your results. 

Is Shingles Contagious?

If you have an active shingles outbreak, it is possible to pass it on to someone who does not have immunity to chickenpox. So, we recommend taking precautions if you are around friends or family while you have an active infection and are receiving treatment. Typically, the virus is passed only through direct contact with the sores themselves, so avoiding physical contact will be crucial. Extra care should be taken around individuals with weakened or compromised immune systems, as they are at higher risk for also contracting the virus.

Schedule Your Consultation

Take the first step to getting relief from shingles today when you schedule your consultation. Dr. Clark has years of experience and has carefully created advanced and improved methods for helping her patients achieve relief from symptoms of their shingles. Call us today to learn more about shingles treatment in NYC and get started on your path to clearer skin. We look forward to working with you.