Skin Manifestations Associated with COVID-19: Current Knowledge and Future Perspectives

Background: Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) is an ongoing global pandemic caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which was isolated for the first time in Wuhan (China) in December 2019. Common symptoms include fever, cough, fatigue, dyspnea and hypogeusia/hyposmia. Among extrapulmonary signs associated with COVID-19, dermatological manifestations have been increasingly reported in the last few months. Summary: The polymorphic nature of COVID-19-associated cutaneous manifestations led our group to propose a classification, which distinguishes the following six main clinical patterns: (i) urticarial rash, (ii) confluent erythematous/maculopapular/morbilliform rash, (iii) papulovesicular exanthem, (iv) chilblain-like acral pattern, (v) livedo reticularis/racemosa-like pattern, (vi) purpuric vasculitic pattern. This review summarizes the current knowledge on COVID-19-associated cutaneous manifestations, focusing on clinical features and therapeutic management of each category and attempting to give an overview of the hypothesized pathophysiological mechanisms of these conditions.

Automated summary

COVID-19 is a global pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2, with common symptoms including fever, cough, fatigue, dyspnea, and hypogeusia/hyposmia. Dermatological manifestations have been increasingly reported, leading to a proposed classification of six main clinical patterns. This review summarizes the knowledge on these cutaneous manifestations, focusing on clinical features, therapeutic management, and hypothesized pathophysiological mechanisms.