Papulosquamous eruptions, pernio/chilblains last ≥60 days in some patients
WEDNESDAY, Nov. 4, 2020 (HealthDay News) — Some patients with COVID-19 have long-lasting dermatologic manifestations, according to a study presented at the annual congress of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology, held virtually from Oct. 29 to 31.
Devon E. McMahon, from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and colleagues examined the duration of dermatologic symptoms of COVID-19 and evaluated the presence of persistent “long-hauler” skin symptoms, defined as dermatologic symptoms of COVID-19 that persisted ≥60 days. Overall, 990 total cases and 303 laboratory-confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases with dermatologic manifestations were included.
Information on dermatologic symptom duration was available for 224 total cases and 90 laboratory-confirmed cases. The researchers found that the median symptom duration was 12 days for all symptoms and seven days for patients with laboratory-confirmed disease. For patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19, morbilliform and urticarial eruptions lasted a median of seven and four days, respectively, with a maximum duration of 28 days. In laboratory-confirmed cases, papulosquamous eruptions lasted 20 days, with one confirmed long-hauler eruption lasting 70 days. In patients with suspected COVID-19 and in laboratory-confirmed cases, pernio/chilblains lasted a median of 15 and 10 days, respectively; six patients with pernio/chilblains had toe symptoms lasting ≥60 days. Two patients continued to experience pernio for more than 130 days.
“Our findings reveal a previously unreported subset of patients with long-standing skin symptoms from COVID-19, in particular those with COVID toes,” a coauthor said in a statement. “This data adds to our knowledge about the long-term effects of COVID-19 in different organ systems.”
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