Herpes zoster in healthy young woman?

[healthycat]

I am a very healthy 23 year-old woman, and I was told just a couple of days ago that a place on the side of my breast is either herpes zoster or herpes simplex. I do not have genital herpes and have never had a cold sore. Investigating non-genital herpes, the only form of herpes simplex I could find was the oral type, and I could find nothing on herpes simplex occuring on one's "trunk." I have come to conclude that it must be shingles, or herpes zoster, but I can't find anything on shingles in otherwise completely healthy young people without autoimmune conditions. If I am dealing with herpes simplex, how could I have contracted it (I am not in an intimate relationship), and why has it appeared in this unusual place? If it is herpes zoster, why did I develop it?

[Debbie Miller, RN]

Hello,
Anyone with a history of chickenpox can develop shingles later in their life. While it is not common in young people such as yourself, it does happen with some regularity in otherwise healthy individuals, depending on your own body's immune system. Antiviral medications can help. The virus lays dormant in your body but then when stressed for some reason it can reactivate along the nerve lines on one side of the body.

Best wishes.