Der Hautarzt; Zeitschrift für Dermatologie, Venerologie, und verwandte Gebiete
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Pruritus, especially chronic pruritus, has long been underestimated and leads to high psychological strain in the affected patients. Even today, in spite of receiving increased attention, the underlying etiology cannot always be identified. ⋯ With regard to the demographic development of the population with increasing life expectancy and the resulting increasing polypharmacy, drugs will have to be taken into account as a possible cause for pruritus more often in the future. It would be desirable to routinely assess pruritus as a possible adverse effect in regulatory drug studies.
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Postherpetic neuralgia is considered to be a neuropathic pain syndrome. Typically, patients experience pain in the dermatomes of skin lesions persisting for more than 3 months after skin restitution. About 10 % of patients with herpes zoster develop postherpetic neuralgia. ⋯ Clinical studies did show pain relief in postherpetic neuralgia after administration of antidepressants, antiepileptic drugs, opioids, and topical capsaicin and lidocaine. Nevertheless, about one third of patients do not respond to conventional treatment. Given the fact that postherpetic neuralgia is considered to be a chronic pain disease, a multidisciplinary treatment approach is necessary.