Lead Sponsor

Albany Medical College

Collaborators

Age

50 - 95 years

Sex

MALE

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

•Group 1: 5 Caucasian males \>50 years of age with PHN of greater than 6 months duration since rash healed and clinically meaningful pain (Visual Analog Scale (VAS) \>40mm at Baseline) Group 2: 5 Caucasian males \>50 years of age, non-diabetic with no nervous system disease (healthy control groups)

•1. History of clinically significant liver disease, serious peripheral vascular disease, a blood clotting disorder, or any other medical condition felt to be exclusionary by the investigator
•2. Allergy to lidocaine
•3. Unwillingness to sign informed consent or any other reasons for which the investigator feels the subject cannot complete the study
•4. History of slow-healing diabetic foot ulcers
•5. HgA1c \>11% within the last three months
•6. Active cancer within the previous two years, except treated basal cell carcinoma of the skin
•7. Co-morbidities that can produce neuropathy
•8. Subjects taking sodium channel blockers within one week of study treatment and throughout the study
•9. Subjects taking any other experimental drugs within 30 days prior to enrollment
•10. Application of lidocaine patch to either foot or to PHN site within two weeks of enrollment