Use of a Polylactic Acid Membrane for Wound Care After Severe Herpes Zoster (Shingles): A Case Report

Background and Clinical Significance: Herpes zoster (HZ) results from reactivation of latent varicella-zoster virus and disproportionately affects older adults. Antiviral therapy and systemic analgesia are well established, but local wound care of the eroded skin remains largely empirical: no dressing has been validated in controlled trials for this indication, and denuded HZ lesions are frequently mismanaged with dry gauze that adheres to the wound bed and aggravates pain. Case Presentation: An 85-year-old man with no known chronic disease presented with a one-week history of thoracic HZ unresponsive to outpatient antiviral therapy, requiring admission for uncontrolled pain (9/10 on the Numeric Rating Scale, NRS), vomiting, asthenia, and hyporexia. Examination revealed confluent, superficial-partial-thickness erosions across the T6–T8 dermatomes (12.5 × 24 cm). After a negative wound culture, a single polylactic-acid-based membrane (Suprathel®250) was applied over the entire denuded area. Pain decreased from 9/10 to 2/10 on the NRS within seven days and complete re-epithelialization was observed by day 12, under concurrent antiviral and systemic analgesic therapy and the patient resumed independent daily activities by the third week without scarring. Conclusions: In this single uncontrolled case, pain reduction and wound closure followed one application of a polylactic acid membrane to an extensive HZ lesion. Because antiviral and analgesic therapy were given concurrently and HZ improves spontaneously over time, no causal or comparative inference is possible; the observation is hypothesis-generating and supports further controlled investigation. Suprathel® is CE-marked and FDA-cleared for burn and wound care, so its use for HZ erosions extends an established burn indication.