Prospects for the use of Lipster Mint cream in the complex treatment of herpes zoster

Objective — to investigate the clinical efficacy of Lipster Mint cream in the complex treatment of patients with herpes zoster. Materials and methods. The study included 15 patients (11 women and 4 men) with acute herpes zoster. The age of the patients ranged from 38 to 70 years. The patients had severe clinical symptoms (typical vesicular rash, itching of varying intensity, burning sensation, intense pain along the affected nerves and sleep disturbance). The localization of pathological foci was unilateral: in 12 patients on the skin of the trunk, in 1 patient on the buttock and in 2 patients on the skin of the thigh. All patients reported a decrease in quality of life due to the disease. The complex treatment included Valavir, one of the valacyclovir drugs, according to the recommended regimens, which was administered orally in 1000 mg tablets three times a day for 7 days. Acute herpes-associated pain and heartburn were relieved with analgesics and topical application of Lipster Mint cream, manufactured by Farmak (Ukraine), which contains acyclovir 5 % and menthol. A distinctive advantage of Lipster Mint is that it contains the highest dose of acyclovir permitted for topical products — 5 %, as well as menthol which cools and reduces itching. The effectiveness of treatment of herpes zoster was assessed by the dynamics of clinical symptoms and subjective feelings on the 2nd, 5th and 10th days of treatment. Results and discussion. As a result of the treatment, positive dynamics of all clinical manifestations was achieved. Inflammatory phenomena such as swelling and hyperemia of the skin significantly decreased, the appearance of fresh herpes rash stopped within 24 hours, body temperature normalized on the 2—3rd day, general condition improved, pain and discomfort in the affected areas significantly decreased, partial epithelialization of erosions and the appearance of crusts were observed on the 5—7th day. With the topical application of Lipster Mint, under the influence of menthol, from the first minutes of application, patients significantly reduced the sensations of burning, tingling and pain in the areas of skin lesions. Conclusions. Despite the available arsenal of specific and non-specific antiherpetic drugs, treatment of patients suffering from herpes zoster continues to be an urgent medical problem that requires further improvement and individualized approach. Our clinical observations indicate the effectiveness of the systemic drug Valavir and the topical drug Lipster Mint cream in the complex treatment of herpes zoster, which makes it possible to reduce postherpetic neuralgia in the areas of skin lesions and improve the quality of life of patients.