a seventy - four year old woman with chronic post - herpetic neuralgia had been experiencing severe burning pain on her right side for almost two years . she was only poorly controlled on aspirin and codeine . the patient topically applied 0 . 1 % capsaicin in a pharmaceutically acceptable cream vehicle to the painful area on her side four times a day . after two weeks , she was pain free and able to discontinue her oral analgesics . after six pain - free months of topically applying capsaicin , this patient was able to discontinue capsaicin treatment and she remained pain free . a sixty - eight year old man experienced severe pain on his lower right side for over six months following an episode of herpes zoster . daily topical applications of 0 . 1 % capsaicin cream for two weeks provided significant reduction of this pain and after one month of topical treatment he was pain free in the previously excruciatingly painful area . an eighty - three year old woman with severe post - herpetic pain on her chest , unrelieved by oral analgesics , applied 0 . 025 % capsaicin cream to the skin four times daily for two weeks . at the end of this treatment period she was able to discontinue the use of all oral pain medications and sleep comfortably for the first time in months . in the practice of the present invention , capsaicin is distributed according to known techniques in various pharmaceutically acceptable carriers such as emulsions , solutions , suspensions including lotions , creams and ointments . some of these carriers contain volatile diluents such as alcohol , glycol and the like and also may contain wetting agents , emulsifying and suspending agents . capsaicin , the active ingredient in the preparation , is a pungent principle in fruit of the various species of capsicum or solanaceae ( pepper plants ). chemically , capsaicin is known as trans - 8 - methyl - n - vanillyl - 6 - nonenamide or ( e )- n -[( 4 - hydroxy - 3 - methoxyphenyl )- methyl ]- 8 - methyl - 6 - nonenamide . its structure is : ## str1 ## capsaicin , commercially available from the sigma chemical company , is preferably present in the pharmaceutically acceptable carrier in an amount of not less than 0 . 01 % by weight and is preferably present in the range of from about 0 . 01 % by weight to about 0 . 1 % by weight , although higher concentrations may be used . if capsaicin is present in the pharmaceutically acceptable carrier in an amount less than about 0 . 01 % by weight , then there is insufficient concentration of the capsaicin to provide effective therapy . if the capsaicin is present in an amount substantially greater than about 1 . 0 % by weight of the pharmaceutically acceptable carrier , then the topical application is too painful . patients treated with capsaicin for psoriatic skin have initially experienced an intense red painful reaction ( for the higher concentrations ); however , the psoriatic skin becomes quite tolerant to capsaicin applications upon subsequent treatment . for patients with herpes zoster , the pain from the virus is so great that pain due to treatment with capsaicin has not been a significant problem , whereby higher concentrations may be applicable for treatment of herpes zoster than for psoriasis . while there has been described what at present is considered to be the preferred embodiment of the present invention , it will be appreciated that various modifications and alterations may be made therein without departing from the true scope and spirit of the present invention , which the claims appended hereto are intended to cover .
the invention relates to a method of treating herpes zoster in a patient having herpes zoster wherein an effective amount of capsaicin is topically applied to the area affected with herpes zoster for a time sufficient to relieve the symptoms thereof .