COVID-19: What's "COVID Toes?"

You may have heard of a new symptom of the COVID-19 virus, nicknamed "COVID toes." But what is it and what should you be looking for? Dr. Matthew Wagoner, DPM with Triad Foot & Ankle Center explains more...

TRANSCRIPTION:

Over the last several weeks, there's been a lot of talk about different symptoms that come from Coronavirus. Obviously, there are the traditional symptoms of fevers, chills, coughs, sore throat, and those symptoms. But over the last couple of weeks, there's been a lot of talk about what's called COVID toes so I just wanted to take a minute just to go over what COVID toes are and what to look out for. So, first off before we start, we have not seen this in our practice. There's been a lot of talk about it, so I thought it'd be worthwhile to have a little discussion about this. Also, before we start I just wanted to make a note that there's been no specific research. There's been no direct correlation and response to COVID toes and actually having the Coronavirus, but what are COVID toes to start with? So, typically you start to see some red or some purple discoloration to the tips of the toes, but it can also happen in the fingers. There might be some raised areas. It might feel like it's burning, it might itch, and it might feel hot to the touch onto the toes. Typically, they're seeing this in kids and younger children, but it's not exclusive to that population. But it's been a symptom that people have been identified over the course of the evolution of the Coronavirus itself. So what typically causes COVID toes? We don't really know. Some people seem to think that the virus is causing a lot of inflammation. That's causing the toes to become this red, kind of purple discoloration. But, also too, the second theory is that the virus is causing the blood vessels to clot and that's going to cause the toe itself to come and become a different color, or it can be a combination of both. We really don't know. And how common is it? It's very unclear at this point and actually what's happened is they've developed an international registry for patients that have Coronavirus that have these symptoms so that way we can further identify the prevalence of having this symptom with the other symptoms of Coronavirus. But there has been some, I don't wanna say research, but there's some identification of people that have Coronavirus that solely have this is a symptom and don't have the other symptoms, but just because you have some purple or red discoloration of the toes does not mean that you have Coronavirus. There are other medical conditions that can cause this. So, just because you have discoloration in the toes does not mean that you are going to get sick with the Coronavirus. But if you do notice it, it's important that you document this, you talk to a doctor and make sure that you discuss these symptoms with your primary care physician or another doctor that can treat the Coronavirus.

Видео COVID-19: What's "COVID Toes?" канала Triad Foot & Ankle Center