SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination and Chilblain-like Lesions: What Do We Know so Far?

Introduction: The coronavirus pandemic has caused massive damage to global health care and the economy. The vaccination program has been paced around the globe to return as soon as possible to pre-COVID time. Although all the vaccines have been approved after the rigorous clinical and safety trials, some adverse effects have surfaced and are being reported from different parts of the world. One such side effect is chilblain-like lesions following the COVID vaccination. Chilblain lesions, also known as pernio, are an inflammatory condition usually affecting the acral regions of the body. It is mostly reported from cold and damp areas and has multiple causes associated with it.

Objective: This study aims to review the publicly available data and to provide concise and comprehensive information as well as evaluate the potential pathology, clinical approach, and management of CLL post-vaccination.

Methods: An extensive literature search over PubMed, Cochrane library, Google Scholar, and Clinicaltrails. gov from inception till 5th October 2021, without any restriction of language was carried out. All the recruited articles were reviewed, and their bibliographies were also screened for any relevant information.

Results: 12 studies (10 case reports and 2 case series) were retrieved reporting the incidence of CLL post-vaccination. 8 studies reported incidence in female patients while 5 reported in males, with one study mentioning no gender. Moreover, most of them were either from Europe or the United States of America, except for two cases, reported from Turkey.

Conclusions: Although the overall incidence of Chilblains following COVID-19 vaccination is low, there is still a strong need to find out the exact mechanism behind this to redefine the safety and administration criteria of the vaccines and to formulate a proper management protocol.