5% lidocaine medicated plaster in elderly patients with postherpetic neuralgia: results of a compassionate use programme in France.

Background: Postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) is a common, debilitating complication of herpes zoster that has a major impact on patients' quality of life. PHN prevalence increases with advancing age. One treatment option is the topical analgesic 5% lidocaine (lignocaine) medicated plaster (Versatis®), which has been proven to be efficacious and well tolerated in a number of randomized clinical studies.