In the early stages of shingles, there are mild premonitory symptoms such as fever, malaise, general malaise, loss of appetite, localized lymph node swelling and pain, as well as burning of the affected skin, sensory allergy, and neuralgia. According to the early symptoms of herpes zoster, if a patient develops a rash with burning, sensory allergy, and neuralgia at the rash site, this is a sign of early diagnosis of herpes zoster. The clinical diagnosis can also be made on the basis of unilateral clusters of blisters distributed along the nerves, accompanied by severe neuralgia. Herpes zoster should be differentiated from herpes simplex, which often occurs at the skin-mucosal junction, has no relationship to the distribution of peripheral nerves, is prone to recurrence, and is not painful. The prodromal phase of herpes zoster and herpes zoster without rash are sometimes easily misdiagnosed as intercostal neuralgia, pleurisy, or acute abdomen, and these are the diseases that need to be differentiated.