What is postherpetic neuralgia? Postherpetic neuralgia is a very persistent and intractable painful condition in which the herpes has been eliminated but the lesion remains painful. The incidence of herpes zoster ranges from 1.4 to 4.8 per 1,000 and is on the increase. About 10% of patients have PHN, and the incidence of PHN in elderly patients over 60 years old can be as high as 50% to 75%. As the population ages, the incidence of PHN will increase significantly. It is characterized by persistent burning pain during the day and severe pain at night, which affects sleep and makes clinical treatment more difficult and prolonged. Treatment of herpes zoster The complete return to normal pain and sensory abnormalities in patients with PHN is extremely difficult, and a large variety of therapies have been tried for PHN, but a decisive, long-term cure has not yet been found. The treatment of refractory PHN is mainly aimed at relieving pain, improving sleep, and improving quality of life, while for milder postherpetic neuralgia, we strive to promote its complete recovery. Western medicine uses narcotic analgesics, antidepressants, anticonvulsants and combination therapy and regional nerve blocks, sympathetic nerve blocks and other methods in the treatment of this disease, but the effect is generally not satisfactory. According to Chinese medicine, this disease belongs to the category of “snake sores”, “fire sores”, and “waist-ending sores”, and is mostly caused by emotional disorders, heat in the liver and gallbladder, and dampness in the spleen. The main pathogenic mechanisms are The main pathogenesis: First, Qi and blood do not pass, and if they do not pass, it hurts. The second is the poisonous evil into fire, and liver fire and damp heat fight, and over time depletion of Yin and blood, the meridians lose nourishment, or elderly Yin deficiency blood deficiency, can not glory to nourish the veins and lanes, luo deficiency also pain. In this regard, the author in clinical work, the early use of acupuncture and moxibustion and other integrated approach to the treatment of herpes zoster, significantly reduce and alleviate the herpes zoster sequelae neuralgia, has achieved positive results, now a brief overview of the principle of acupuncture treatment. Acupuncture for herpes zoster. For the treatment of postherpetic neuralgia, especially in pain control, many scholars believe that early treatment has a role in preventing PHN. Acupuncture has many methods for treating herpes zoster, with good efficacy, few side effects, few sequelae and low cost. Modern medical research shows that acupuncture can stimulate the internal physiological stress system of the organism, and through neurohumoral regulation, the pain threshold of the organism is increased and the immune function is strengthened, while the secretion of endogenous opioid peptides can be promoted to produce analgesia, and acupuncture can also reduce the vascular permeability of inflammatory foci and inhibit the exudation of inflammatory substances, thus playing a therapeutic role. Therefore, the use of acupuncture therapy for this disease has the characteristics of short treatment course and high efficacy, while avoiding the possible side effects of drugs, and can quickly reduce the patient’s pain. Because some patients often have residual neuralgia after the lesions have subsided, the course of acupuncture treatment for herpes zoster needs to be longer, especially for the elderly, and acupuncture treatment should be performed early after the herpes has crusted over. The best time for treatment is within six months of the onset of the disease. The longer the time, the longer the course of acupuncture treatment.