A new study suggests that some patients with Covid-19 have persistent skin-related symptoms long after they recover from the initial infection. The findings, presented at the 29th Congress of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology by investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), point to another burden experienced by so-called “long haulers” who get better but don’t seem to fully recover from Covid-19.
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 coronavirus 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.