Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Department of Surgery, The University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60612, USA. mmassad@uic.edu
Shingles secondary to reactivation of a previous varicella-zoster virus infection has been reported to develop within surgical wounds and after trauma. We report the case of a 17-year-old girl with history of chicken pox in childhood who had acute postoperative shingles develop along the T3-T4 dermatomes after thoracic sympathectomy for hyperhidrosis. The possible causes and precipitating factors are discussed.