NYU Langone’s Zoster Eye Disease Study (ZEDS) was a multicenter randomized clinical trial that investigated whether long-term, low-dose antiviral treatment is effective in delaying new or worsening eye disease, lessening chronic pain, or both, in people with a form of shingles that affects the eye, called herpes zoster ophthalmicus (HZO). Shingles, also called herpes zoster, is caused by localized reactivation of the virus that causes chickenpox, known as the varicella-zoster virus.

The purpose of our study was to find out whether one year of a low dose of the oral antiviral medicine valacyclovir reduces complications of HZO. Our study was funded by the National Eye Institute of the National Institutes of Health (NEI/NIH; grant U10 EY026869) and registered at clinicaltrials.gov (under ID NCT03134196). The study was completed in July 2024.