A doctor has issued a warning to look out for an unusual symptom on the tip of the nose that could signal a virus on the face that has the potential to cause blindness. Doctor Joe Whittington urged people to be wary of a rash at the end of the nose. According to Dr Whittington, who is best known online as Dr Joe MD, this is a sign of a specific type of shingles.
“Not your everyday shingles ”, the strain - called herpes zoster ophthalmicus - affects the eyes . It is a “medical emergency” and without treatment can lead to scarring, vision loss and blindness. Dr Whittington alerted his almost two million TikTok followers to the condition via a video posted to the social media platform.
He spoke in response to a woman’s video in which she explained how she was infected with the virus, presenting with a red and droopy eye, and a rash on one side of her face. “Listen to them, this is all caused by stress,” she said. Replying to her post, Dr Whittingon said: “This is not your everyday shingles.
This is something called herpes zoster ophthalmicus. “And this is when the virus that causes shingles affects the face, you can involve the eye. “This is because when it involves the eye, it can cause scarring, vision loss and even blindness.
” He warned that a rash on the nose is one warning sign of infection. “One red flag is a rash to the tip of the nose, which means there's involvement of something called the nasociliary nerve, which feeds both the nose and the eye,.