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Diagnosis of Shingles by Rosalyn Carson-DeWitt, MD

Generally, shingles is easily diagnosed by its characteristic discomfort/pain and its distinctive rash. To confirm that you have shingles, your doctor may scrape some skin from a blister or collect some of its fluid. These samples can then be sent to a laboratory for testing. The tests can detect the presence of the varicella-zoster virus.

These tests include:

Microscopic examination
Viral culture
Immunofluorescence
Polymerase chain reaction techniques

It may take as long as three weeks or several weeks to obtain the results of some of these tests.

References:

The American Academy of Dermatology website. Available at: http://www.aad.org/default.htm . Accessed February 21, 2006.
Stankus SJ, Dlugopolski M, Packer D. Management of herpes zoster (shingles) and postherpetic neuralgia. Am Fam Physician . 2000;61(8). Available at: http://www.aafp.org/afp/20000415/2437.html.
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke website. Available at: http://www.ninds.nih.gov/ . Accessed February 21, 2006.

Last reviewed September 2012 by Peter Lucas, MD

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Diagnosis of Shingles by Rosalyn Carson-DeWitt, MD

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