The damage of the acute shingles stage from the first symptoms is itching then burning pain, blisters, blisters burst and then scar healing. This stage is about 1 week to 10 days.

From the site of injury, pain signals are transmitted along nerve fibers to the brain where the body perceives pain in a nociceptive area. The pain signal is transformed along the way by different systems and the strength of the pain signal can be increased or decreased.