The Association of the Prolonged Use of Personal Protective Equipment and Face Mask During COVID-19 Pandemic With Various Dermatologic Disease Manifestations: A Systematic Review

Barnawi, Ghassan M; Barnawi, Azhar M; Samarkandy, Sahal

COVID-19 is a novel coronavirus that represents a great global health concern. It is transmitted between individuals through respiratory particles, and as there is no established effective treatment currently for the virus, it is necessary to use protective strategies such as face masks. Healthcare providers and individuals serving outdoors are required to work for long durations wearing personal protective equipment (PPE). Wearing such protective equipment may have short- or long-term effects on the skin health of these individuals. We aim to assess the prevalence and types of dermatological manifestations associated with wearing PPE for a long time during the COVID-19 pandemic period by reviewing the previous studies conducted on this subject. The medical literature, including the databases of PubMed and Google Scholar, from 2019 to 2021 was explored. The search terms included a combination of "Impact of PPE and dermatological outcome," "Wearing PPE for a long time and dermatological manifestations," "Face mask-wearing and dermatological complications," and "Wearing PPE and dermatological manifestations." The inclusion criteria are original full-text articles that reported the association of wearing PPE and dermatological manifestations and outcomes. A total of 70 articles were obtained, among which only 10 articles were eligible for the inclusion criteria. These 10 studies included a total number of 7,643 participants and covered different countries of the world. The extracted data were summarized in a table to facilitate the collection of the important findings. Dermatological complications are frequently reported in people wearing PPE and face masks, especially the ones caused due to PPE among healthcare providers as they tend to use these protective measures for longer durations.