Has anyone else got ‘COVID toes’

[Twooter]

My DJ has had red swollen and ulcerated goes for the last week. Initially he thought it was athletes foot, albeit in the wrong part of the foot and not looking quite typical. Then he googled and found articles on Covid toes -mainly from the US, but the pictures are exactly the same as my DH’s toes.

My hisband

My Dp has a cough (albeit not that terrible) but we did self isolate as he also had loss of smell and taste and small red marks All along his toes about 4 weeks ago! I'm certain it was Covid but obviously no way to know for certain as no tests. Interestingly my DS had a temp for 2 days around the time and a cough but again not bad. I however had no symptoms other than feeling a bit tired!

Agh, app crashed then I reposted in the wrong thread!

My husband has this about 7 weeks ago along with losing his sense of smell. It wasn't until there was an article on the BBC about it that we realised it was a symptom of corona virus. Pretty sure he's had it now, though!

I doubt its chilblains given the unseasonably warm weather we are having

DH has this. He had the virus back in March (relatively mildly), and about 2-3 weeks ago he noticed one of his toes was red and swollen - the very next day I happened to see an article about the toe thing. It’s just about faded now but it’s still slightly red.

This is a very bizarre connection but those covid/chilblain toes look identical to chilblain lupus (a rare form of systemic lupus), which is what I have. Autoimmune chilblains are not always caused by cold...I had those sores on my fingers and toes all year round when my disease was flaring. Covid19 has been linked to Kawasaki disease and other symptoms typically caused by autoimmune disorders so I wouldn't be surprised if there was some correlation.

The medication I take every day to keep the sores away is hydroxychloroquine (Plaquenil) which is also one of the leading treatments being trialed against covid.

Autoimmune chilblains starts with a mild sensation of itching/swelling under your skin, usually around the knuckles on the fingers or toes. They get worse after 1-2 days and becomes painful, red and swollen to touch. The swollen red patches often produce round sores that are almost like blisters. The itchy sores take ages to go away, often 2 weeks or more but (in my case) new ones would pop up elsewhere during that time. Applying topical creams, even steroid ones, do not help. I had constant sores on my hands for almost 3 years and they disappeared within a few days after taking hydroxychloroquine.

A colleague of mine’s son has these chilblains and they’ve all been tested (keyworker family) and all tested negative