Skin rashes seen during COVID-19 usually feature maculopapular or vesicular morphology, thus mimicking cutaneous eruptions occurring in other common infectious dermatoses, such as mononucleosis, chickenpox, sixth disease and measles, with possible diagnostic mistakes. In this review article, we sought to provide a practical overview about clinical appearance of skin rashes related to SARS-CoV-2 infection.

The study summarizes literature evidence on clinical patterns of COVID-19-associated maculopapular or vesicular rash, with a particular emphasis on the principal points of differentiation with possible mimickers.

Several differences do exist between rashes due to SARS-CoV-2 infection and other viral eruptions, mainly including lesions morphology, spreading pattern, symptoms and mucosal involvement. The increase of awareness of such features among clinicians may help promptly recognize COVID-19-related exanthemas in order to take proper action to manage the infection.