MANILA, Philippines — Actress-comedienne Candy Pangilinan revealed she suffered from shingles and made a public call for awareness regarding the viral infection.
Also known as Herpes Zoster, singles, like chickenpox, is caused by the varicella-zoster virus. This means anyone who has contracted chickenpox may develop singles as the virus lies dormant in nerve tissue only to reactivate many years later.
Candy unveiled her shingles diagnosis in a video uploaded on her YouTube channel last August 27.
The actress began the video with a disclaimer that the video only contained her experiences with shingles and the research she conducted about it.
The video proper began with Candy in her fifth day of isolation with a gauze with sodium chloride covering the upper left side of her face to ease her pain and not shock viewers.
She gave a brief definition of shingles and admitted she was supposed to be hospitalized but opted to recover at home instead.
Like most cases, Candy thought she had a skin and eye condition but a dermatologist informed her it was shingles, which had spread throughout the left side of her head.
Candy shared she attends to herself and is given food, and out of concern stayed out of contact with her neurodivergent son Quentin in case he reacts violently.
Quentin appeared to be aware about Candy’s condition and still managed to do regular tasks, keeping in touch with Candy over the phone.
By the eighth or ninth day of isolation, Candy had less gauze material on but found out she had scarring on her head, and again advised people to read up about shingles.
The gauzes were off by the tenth day and Candy managed to show some of scarring marks left by the condition but shared her head still hurt.
According to the United States’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, around 30% of patients with shingles will experience long-term nerve pain, while a local study says one out of four patients infected near the eye may be blinded.— Video from Candy Pangilinan’s YouTube channel
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