SUMMARY
We examined five children with herpes zoster ophthalmicus (HZO) in a 12 months period. The children had a follow up of 2 weeks to 11 months. The diagnosis was clinical, based on the characteristic skin rash. All children were treated with systemic acyclovir and, if necessary topical eye medication. Only one case developed eye complications and none had postherpetic neuralgia.
We discuss the epidemiological and clinical aspects of HZO, mainly because of the fact that the incidence in children and young people, considered rare in this age group in the world literature, was quite high in our study. The review of Brazilian literature disclosed that Herpes Zoster seems to have higher incidence in the young instead of the old population as we would expecto We conclude that foreign epidemiological studies should be interpreted with criteria because they may not represent our reality.