Is shingles on the face serious?

Generally, shingles on the face is more serious compared to other areas. The face has a trigeminal nerve, which in turn has a maxillary branch, a mandibular branch, and an ophthalmic branch. If the herpes virus affects the maxillary branch, it can cause severe headaches in addition to blisters. If it affects the ophthalmic branch, it can cause keratitis, corneal ulcers, and even blindness. In addition to the trigeminal nerve, there is also the facial nerve. If the herpes zoster virus damages the facial nerve, it will manifest clinically as facial paralysis on one side. In addition, the face also has the auditory nerve. If the herpes virus damages the auditory nerve, it can manifest as deafness, ear pain, tinnitus, i.e., a constant ringing in the ear, or even inaudibility or deafness, and there can be blisters in the external ear canal. Sometimes it can also hurt the taste nerve, and eventually it can cause the loss of taste in the first 1/3 of the tongue, i.e. there is no taste for anything you eat, so herpes zoster that occurs on the face is relatively serious.