Shingles looks like a blistering rash that covers a strip-like area on one side of your body. Itch and pain are common symptoms. Prompt medical care may prevent complications and speed recovery.

While shingles usually appears as a band across one side of your torso, it may develop anywhere on your body, including:

  • legs
  • groin
  • buttocks
  • genitals

Although multiple conditions may cause a rash in your groin or leg, shingles rashes tend to be distinctive.

While blistering and a discolored rash are the most visible symptoms of shingles, they are often not the first to present.

Early signs of shingles may occur before you see the rash appear. They may include:

The pain may peak as the rash develops and, in some cases, it may persist after the rash resolves. Rarely, shingles may also develop without a rash.

If a rash does develop, you may see fluid-filled blisters join together in clusters that extend in a belt-like shape. Some of these tiny blisters may burst open, bleed, and turn crusty after a few days. Shingles resolves once the scabs fall and the skin underneath heals.

The rash may be itchy and sensitive to the touch. Pain and itching may range from mild to severe.

Other symptoms of shingles may include:

  • headache
  • fever
  • fatigue
  • sensitivity to light

Shingles is highly contagious while the blisters are active. You may not spread it to other parts of your body by touching the affected area, but you could expose someone else to the virus if they come in contact with the blisters.

How long shingles last may vary but it may take about 5 weeks to fully resolve. Itching and pain may linger a while longer, even after your rash has scabbed over.

Shingles typically manifests as a cluster of fluid-filled tiny blisters on one side of your body only. If you have that type of rash on one leg or one side of your groin, but not the other, it’s likely to be shingles.

Shingles rashes are often itchy and painful, and you may experience these symptoms in the area before the rash becomes evident.

A rash on your inner thigh or on your buttocks can be the result of any number of medical conditions, but rashes resulting from something other than shingles tend to look different. For example:

  • Jock itch appears as a reddish or discolored, half-moon rash that may have small blisters and scaly skin. It may be itchy, but it isn’t painful like shingles. This fungal infection can cause a reaction in areas such as your groin that become moist with sweat, creating an optimal area for the infection to take hold.
  • Contact dermatitis is a response to an allergen, such as poison ivy or a chemical in clothing or laundry detergent. It leads to a dry, scaly rash, but may also cause hives. Your upper legs and groin area are vulnerable to certain triggers of contact dermatitis, because your skin rubs against clothing.
  • Prickly heat or heat rash appears as small red or discolored bumps often where sweat is trapped against your skin. Your legs and groin are common sites for prickly heat, particularly in hot weather.

Shingles around your genitals may also mimic genital herpes. A healthcare professional may provide an accurate diagnosis and adequate treatment once they examine the rash.

The varicella-zoster virus, which also causes chickenpox, is responsible for shingles. If you’ve had chickenpox, you may develop shingles later in life. The virus can lay dormant in your body for many years after chickenpox clears up and then reactivate in the form of shingles.

The shingles virus lives in nerve cells and tends to follow the line of a nerve pathway, which is why it often appears as a band on one side of your body.

Shingles may cause symptoms in your legs and groin if the large nerves that extend from your spine down your legs are affected. Otherwise, shingles will manifest in other areas of the body, depending on which nerve path the virus is traveling along.

Antiviral drugs within 72 hours of the first symptoms may help reduce the severity and duration of shingles.

Shingles treatment may also help reduce the risk of shingles complications, including long-term pain (postherpetic neuralgia) due to nerve damage.

Antibiotics don’t work on viruses but they may be prescribed to reduce the risk of a bacterial infection at the site of the shingles lesions.

To help reduce the pain of shingles once the rash has dried, a doctor may also prescribe:

  • capsaicin topical patch
  • tricyclic antidepressants
  • numbing agents, such as lidocaine
  • corticosteroid injections to reduce inflammation

Home care and natural strategies may include:

  • cool baths or showers to ease the pain and clean your skin
  • cold, damp compresses to reduce pain and itching
  • calamine lotion to reduce itching

The best way to help prevent shingles is to get the vaccine. Shingrix is the shingles vaccine available in the United States. Experts advise that people age 50 years and older get the vaccine. Younger people with weakened immune systems may also receive Shingrix.

While Shingrix will greatly reduce your chances of developing shingles, it is not 100% effective and may cause minor side effects. The vaccine will, however, help reduce the severity of an outbreak if you do develop shingles.

Avoiding direct contact with an active shingles rash is also important to reduce the chance of getting shingles.

Only people who have had chickenpox can get shingles if exposed to the virus. If you have not had chickenpox, you could then get chickenpox if you’re in contact with a shingles rash.

If you suspect you’ve been exposed to the shingles virus, consider seeking medical care. Getting started on antiviral medications may help reduce your chances of shingles complications, such as postherpetic neuralgia.

If shingles develops on your face, along your nose, or near your eye, immediate medical attention is advised. If the infection reaches your eyeball, it could lead to scarring and possibly vision loss.

Other rare complications of shingles include:

If you’re not sure if your leg or groin rash is caused by shingles, it is worth asking a healthcare professional.

A blistering rash that appears on your leg and groin — particularly if it’s just one side of your body — may be related to shingles, a viral infection related to the chickenpox virus.

Shingles symptoms include itching, pain, irritation, and a cluster of tiny blisters. Prompt medical treatment may reduce the severity of symptoms and prevent complications like long-term pain caused by nerve damage.