Herpes zoster in older adults and worsening of life quality

We present 3 cases of older adults who were diagnosed with herpes zoster, and had post herpetic neuralgia afterwards. One of them presented difficulties in the management of pain due to intolerances to different painkillers; our second patient had ophthalmic herpes zoster, and despite correct medication and strict adherence to indications, continued with pain almost two years later with severe interference in her daily life. The third one presented a diagnostic challenge because as time went by and pain evolved, she begun to lose weight, and deteriorated her general condition. She was finally diagnosed with terminal colon cancer for which she died a few months later. All three cases show the difficulty of treatment and the interference of pain in daily quality of life. We reviewed the literature and updated the topic of post herpetic neuralgia, its diagnosis, management, prognosis and prevention.