Some Covid-19 patients experience lasting skin problems: Study

New York, Oct 29 (IANS) In a major study, researchers have found that some patients with Covid-19 have persistent skin-related symptoms long after their initial infection has cleared.The findings, presented at the 29th Congress of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology, point to another burden experienced by so-called "long haulers" who get better but don't seem to fully recover from Covid-19."Our findings reveal a previously unreported subset of patients with long-standing skin symptoms from Covid-19, in particular those with Covid toes," said study author Esther E Freeman from Massachusetts General Hospital in the US."This data adds to our knowledge about the long-term effects of Covid-19 in different organ systems. The skin is potentially a visible window into inflammation that could be going on in the body," Freeman added.For the analysis, researchers established an international registry for Covid-19 skin manifestations in April 2020, in collaboration with the International League of Dermatological Societies and the American Academy of Dermatology.Clinicians were contacted in June and August to update Covid-19 laboratory test results and the duration of patients' Covid-19 skin symptoms.The team defined long haulers as anyone with skin symptoms of Covid-19 that persisted for at least 60 days.The team evaluated almost 1,000 cases of patients with skin manifestations of Covid-19.Among 224 total suspected cases and 90 laboratory-confirmed cases of Covid-19 from 39 countries with information on symptom duration, the median duration of symptoms was 12 days.According to the study, rash-like morbilliform and urticarial eruptions lasted a median of seven days and four days, respectively, for patients with lab-confirmed Covid-19, with a maximum duration of 28 days.Papulosquamous eruptions, which are scaly papules and plaques, lasted a median of 20 days in lab-confirmed cases, with one confirmed long hauler eruption lasting 70 days.The findings revealed Pernio/chilblains, or redness and swelling of the feet and hands, commonly known as "Covid toes," lasted a median of 15 days in patients with suspected Covid-19 and 10 days in lab-confirmed cases.Notably, six patients with pernio/chilblains were long haulers with toe symptoms lasting at least 60 days, with two lab-confirmed patients with Covid- toes lasting longer than 130 days."We encourage clinicians taking care of patients with Covid-19 to ask about and evaluate any skin symptoms," the study authors wrote.

--IANS bu/sdr/