Yes you read that correctly.
and No the lock-down hasn't driven me to the point of insanity.... just yet.
So, many of you, like myself before starting podiatry, probably didn't understand that diseases and infections are able to manifest on your toes as well!
For example, take someone suffering with Psoriasis, what that would look like on the toes is:
- Pink or red plaques with a superficial layer of fine silvery white scales on the dorsal (top) surface
- Hyperkeratonic (look it up I'm not your google!) fissured skin on the plantar (bottom) surface
- Nail dystrophy, including separation of the nail plate from the nail bed (onycholysis)
- Subungual hyperkeratosis
- Pitting of the nail plate (its more prominent on fingernails)
- Psoriatic arthritis with pain and decreased mobility in the axial skeleton and the small joints of the hands and feet
- a rare mutilating form of arthritis can result in significant resorption if bone in the digits.
Information from Neals' Disorders of the foot! Thanks big guy.
Heres a picture of what that would look like ... for funsies!
Well done, now that we've covered this part of the confusion, lets tackle the next!
How does Covid- 19 manifest in your feet? what things are unique to covid-19 that cannot be misdiagnosed?
From the ONE article I read about a young patient in an Italian hospital I can tell you this:
- The young patient presented with 5-15 mm in diameter erythemato-violet, rounded lesions with blurred limits on the plantar surface of 1st right toe.
- As well as the dorsal surface of 2nd toe on both feet.
- Intense itching and burning on the foot lesions.
- 1cm in diameter blister formation with a tense roof and serous content on lesion of 2nd toe.
Here are some of the stats from that same article:
- Evident from the beginning the severity of covid-19 correlation with age and presence of comorbidity
- in a large Chinese study, 44,672 confirmed cases, subjects from 0-10 years were represented for the 0.09% and 10-19 years for the 1.2% and half the children has no obvious symptoms making it hard for epidemiological purposes.
I've linked the article at the end of this post so please read it and take a look at the pictures! read more articles from reliable sources and note that not everything is backed up or peer reviewed so make those decisions wisely! and remember, plagiarism is the devil!
Now that I've added that disclaimer, I wanted to end this post on an inquisitive note. Do I think, once sufficient research has been done, that Covid-19 toes will be added to the roster?
No, I don't think it will, since this is a pandemic and much like the bubonic plague, its time will end and we will most likely never see it in our routine clinical practices. Correct me if I am wrong.
Do I think more research needs to be done regarding covid-19 and how it manifests on toes?
Yes! absolutely, and it needs to be thoroughly peer reviewed. For the matter of current times and how urgent it is for medical information and findings to be released, the matter of peer review can take a backseat for now. But....
Great article idea!
It will be interesting to see how Covid plays out, the WHO suggested this week that it *could* become endemic within society (like HIV or maybe measles?) though it doesn't look like it's seasonal.
Let's hope it does a 'plague' and goes away without significant mutation, sooner rather than later! Otherwise hopefully an effective vaccine can be made.
Like you said, I wonder if Covid toe will become a thing?!
Stay safe x