Posttraumatic herpes zoster ophthalmicus as a presenting sign of human immunodeficiency virus infection.

We present the case of a 38-year-old man who developed herpes zoster ophthalmic'us after orbital blunt trauma. Additional evaluation revealed human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection. This case shows that varicella-zoster may be activated by local trauma and that herpes zoster ophthalmicus in young patients may indicate underlying HIV-1 infection