I know your post is almost a year old but I just saw it. I, too, have recurrent shingles with my first occurrence when I was 20. My outbreak location is my forehead and when it first happened, I thought it was just acne. By the time I got to the doctor, it was really bad and had gotten into my eye. I can relate to the tingling at onset; the standing anti-viral script that I keep with me at all times; the incredibly intense pain; and the embarrassment when people see a 60-something year old with, from a distance, looks like an acne event. I did have the shingles vaccine when I hit the magic age and promptly had a mild occurrence. Doc told me of three main triggers and he was 100% correct: lack of sleep, stress, and sunlight (needless to say I NEVER go outside without a hat). In fact, I went outside on a fairly overcast day a week ago with a lot of stress in my life right now and little sleep for 3 weeks and – you guessed it – I have an occurrence right now. As soon as I feel the tingling and see that irritation, I immediately begin the anti-virals, put zinc oxide on the area, and shut down everything to rest for a few days. No phone calls or work or anything; just rest. My doc is really understanding so he also will prescribe Tramadol for pain when I message him at onset (not supposed to take aspirin products with chicken pox or shingles). Someone mentioned that your doc should test the area to make sure it is shingles (zoster) and not simplex and while that is an option, the difference in treatment is not that different. The test showed mine was zoster so, lucky me, I’m one of those who has to live with this as a chronic thing. You’ll learn to deal with it but it takes a while. Sorry you’re going through this. Hope you have gotten some relief.