A dermatome is an area of skin that a spinal nerve supplies. Spinal nerves branch off the spinal cord at different points along the spine. There are 31 pairs of different spinal nerves.

This is because each spinal nerve root—one on each side of the body—services a specific area of skin called a dermatome. When a shingles outbreak occurs, only that dermatome on that side of the body ...

Does shingles appear only in one area of the body? Shingles can occur almost anywhere on the body, including the face, groin, and legs, but it most commonly affects one or two adjacent bands ...