A clinical review: Covid-19 and dermatology

Abstract

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Corona Virus Disease-2019(COVID-19) as a pandemic disease caused by SARS-CoV-2. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of dermatology practice in patient management has emerged. Skin involvement was rarely documented in the first reported case series. The reason for this has been shown to be that a complete dermatological examination can not be performed in cases. Over time, significantly higher rates of skin findings have been reported.The mechanism of skin lesions associated with COVID-19 is not yet clear. The most common view is that lymphocytic vasculitis caused by vascularly located viral particles and langerhans cell activation is caused by an immune response to infection leading to vasodilation and spongiosis.Keratinocytes are thought to be secondary targets.It has been emphasized that skin findings are encountered at rates varying between 2-20% in COVID-19 patients. Casas et al. performed the first prospective study to classify the skin manifestations of COVID-19 into five major groups, including pseudo-chilblains (19%), other vesicular eruptions (9%), maculopapuler eruption (47%), livedo or necrosis (6%) and urticarial lesions (19%).