You also may feel tired and ill with fever, chills, headache, and upset stomach. After several days, you will notice a rash of small, clear, fluid-filled blisters on reddened skin. Within 3 days after they appear, the blisters will turn yellow, then dry and crust over. During the next two weeks the crusts will drop off, sometimes leaving small, pitted scars. Because they tend to follow nerve paths, the blisters are usually found in a line, often extending from the back or flank around to the abdomen, just on one side.
Shingles never crosses the midline of the body.
The word shingles comes from the Latin word for belt or girdle. The rash also may appear on one side of your face. Some people have painful eye inflammations and infections. A person with shingles can transmit chickenpox to a person who has never had the virus. There are virus particles in the blister fluid.