THE TREATMENT OF POSTHERPETIC NEURALGIA

Postherpetic neuralgia, when defined as neuropathic pain persisting 1 month or longer after herpes tester infection, affects about 10% of al l patients who have contracted the disease. The incidence of postherpe tic neuralgia increases with age; at age 60, about 50% of herpes teste r patients will suffer significant pain, and this proportion grows wit h subsequent decades. If therapy is carefully chosen and monitored, it is possible to give satisfactory relief, taking pain from severe to m ild, to between 60 and 70% of patients. This article will review curre nt treatment and focus on antidepressant drugs, treatments that are co ntentious and of current interest such as topical agents, and the use of opioids for this type of chronic neuropathic pain.