Evaluation of dermatologic manifestations in patients infected with COVID-19

Abstract

COVID-19 was discovered for the first time in China lately at 2019. As the number of cases surged, it created a great concern among health care staff. Dermatologic side effects of COVID-19 constitute an important part of this disease. In this study, we assessed patients who came to our clinic with dermatologic issues after contracting the virus. By collecting basic information from our patients, we discussed the relation between patients’ demographics and covid-19. Also, we surveyed the prevalence of dermatologic manifestations and the time of occurrence after the first symptom of the disease. Possible relation between covid-19 severity and skin lesions was also assessed in this study. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed between March 2021 and March 2022. Inclusion criteria were all patients with any kind of dermatologic complaints in the time period of one week prior to the first symptom of COVID-19 and three months later. We excluded the patients who had any skin lesions caused by common medications used in COVID-19 treatment and also individuals with any proved dermatologic disease prior to COVID-19. Results: We gathered the Information of 86 cases including 33 men and 48 women with the mean age of 36.95(±17.78). The Covid was determined to be severe and non-severe in 44 and 41 cases orderly. 18 types of dermatologic manifestations were found and the most frequent morphologies were: Maculopapular rashes (29.1%), telogen effluvium (29.1%), papular urticaria (8.1%), oral aphthous ulcers (7%), red macular rashes (5.8%), lichenoid rashes (5.8%) and urticaria (5.8%). The median time for the occurrence of any dermatologic manifestations were 9.5 days (with a maximum of 90 and minimum of -1 days). All cases with hair loss were in the late manifestations group (14 days after the first symptom of COVID). On the other hand, all the patients with papular urticaria and oral aphthous ulcers were grouped in early manifestations. Also, the occurrence of maculopapular rashes was early in 90% of patients with this condition. Hair loss was observed in 43.9% of cases with non-severe covid and 13.6% of severe cases. The occurrence of urticaria was seen in 12.1% of mild covid cases and none of severe covid patients. On the other side, the prevalence of maculopapular and red macular rashes was 47.7% and 11.3% in patients with severe covid and oppositely, were 9.7% and 0% in mild cases. We did not find any other meaningful relation between covid severity and other skin lesions.