Getting the recombinant zoster (shingles) vaccine (RZV), or Shingrix, if you have had an ocular shingles event, may increase your risk of experiencing a second event, a recent study shows.
Ocular shingles refers to all shingles that manifest in the eye area. Milder cases of ocular shingles typically occur near the eyelids, while more severe cases may cause inflammation inside the eyes and potentially lead to blindness.
Researchers at the University of California (UC)–San Francisco found that, compared to unvaccinated people with a history of ocular shingles, those who receive the RZV have a 93 percent higher rate of developing ocular shingles again.
“It’s not a huge increased risk,” lead author Dr. Nisha Acharya, director of the Uveitis and Ocular Inflammatory Disease Service at UC–San Francisco, told The Epoch Times. “To my knowledge, it’s the first data that we have on risks of reactivation following zoster vaccination for this patient population who already have the disease. I think it raises some questions,” she said.
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