key: cord-0739291-1urqigyt
authors: Turkmen, D.; Altunisik, N.
title: Commentary on ‘Psoriasis flare‐up associated with second dose of Pfizer‐BioNTech BNT16B2b2 COVID‐19 mRNA vaccine’
date: 2022-04-22
journal: J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol
DOI: 10.1111/jdv.18117
sha: 83ad06f506b96238ad30e15813b177010ccb2f02
doc_id: 739291
cord_uid: 1urqigyt

nan

We read with great interest the article titled 'Psoriasis flare-up associated with second dose of Pfizer-BioNTech BNT16B2b2 COVID-19 mRNA vaccine' by Krajewski et al. 1 At the beginning of the article, the authors stated that psoriasis flared up one day after the COVID-19 Pfizer-BioNTech BNT16B2b2 vaccine, but in the continuation of the article, they stated that the psoriasis flare-up started five days after the vaccine. It is important to clarify this period more clearly.

In general, the authors concluded that vaccination is a rare factor in triggering psoriasis exacerbations; however, they noted that the association of vaccination with new development or exacerbation of this skin disease has been reported. They noted that current reports of exacerbations are mostly due to vaccines such as influenza (H1N1), pneumococcal pneumonia and yellow fever. They also stated that there is no well-defined relationship between mRNA COVID-19 vaccines and psoriasis exacerbation, and their current case is the first case published on this subject. As the authors mentioned here, the number of publications on cutaneous reactions after COVID-19 vaccine is very limited. In an article published by McMahon et al., which included 414 cutaneous reactions, it was reported that only two patients had exacerbation of psoriasis. 2 As there was an intense concern for all people in the first periods when COVID-19 disease was seen intensely, the patient profiles seen in dermatology outpatient clinics have changed significantly. 3 The most important method of protection against the pandemic is to follow the rules such as mask and social distance. However, despite the past two years, the disease still remains a threat. It is a fact that the vaccines developed against the COVID-19 disease in the last year have enabled us to make significant progress in the fight against the disease. On the other hand, due to the fact that the side-effects of the vaccines developed in a short time are not fully known and new cases are emerging every day, our attention has turned to the side-effects of the vaccines. We would like to emphasize that more cases and studies will be published on this subject in the near future due to the intense use of mRNA vaccines recently and that exacerbations of psoriasis triggered by the COVID-19 vaccine are not as rare as previously thought. For example, in a recently published article, we reported three cases of exacerbation of generalized pustular psoriasis, palmoplantar psoriasis and psoriasis vulgaris after mRNA vaccine only in the centre where we work. 4 The publication of these three cases that we have reported shows that we should be more careful about vaccines.

We think that vaccination of the elderly and people in the risk group should be contented with recently, when new variants of COVID-19 that transmit rapidly and last for a shorter period of time have come to the fore.

Psoriasis flare-up associated with second dose of Pfizer-BioNTech BNT16B2b2 COVID-19 mRNA vaccine

Cutaneous reactions reported after Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccination: a registry based study of 414 cases

Comparison of patients' diagnoses in a dermatology outpatient clinic during the COVID-19 pandemic period and pre-pandemic period

Exacerbations of generalized pustular psoriasis, palmoplantar psoriasis, and psoriasis vulgaris after mRNA COVID-19 vaccine: a report of three cases

All authors declare no conflict of interest.

None to declare.

Dursun Turkmen is involved in supervision; conceptualization; visualization; and writing-original draft. Nihal Altunisik is involved in supervision; conceptualization; and visualization.