Friends! Autumn is here! It’s high season for shingles again, and with shingles you need to treat it promptly! Otherwise, it can cause postherpetic neuralgia. Postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) is a condition in which the local lesions heal after the onset of herpes zoster, but the neuralgia persists and the pain lasts for months or years. The diagnosis of PHN is based on the fact that the pain persists for more than 3 months after the herpes disappears. PHN mostly resolves within 1 year, but 10%-20% of patients still have chronic and persistent pain that does not resolve. The incidence of PHN is higher, the duration is longer, and the pain is more severe when the patient is over 50 years old. In addition to age, risk factors for PHN include: severity of acute pain, severe skin damage, poor sensory function in the lesion area of acute viral infection, prodromal symptoms of pain and fever, and the presence of intense and prolonged humoral and cellular immunity in acute viral infection. The clinical presentation of PHN is usually painful, with patients complaining of three types of pain: persistent burning pain, paroxysmal irritation, and pins and needles, as well as complaints of tactile nociceptive abnormalities. 80-90% of patients present with nociceptive abnormalities that are dynamic in nature, such as pain induced by motor stimulation. For this reason, many patients experience severe pain when they wear clothing and rub their skin. In addition, there are often changes in skin sensation in the damaged skin area. Compared with the normal contralateral side, there are changes in the sensation of temperature, cold, thermal pain, touch, pins and needles, vibration, and two-point position discrimination in the affected segment. In addition to sensory deficits and pain abnormalities, the skin is usually pigmented and crusted. Due to the intensity and persistence of pain, patients with PHN often suffer from insomnia, anxiety, emotional depression and even suicidal tendencies.