A clinical case of a patient with mucocutaneous and musculoskeletal manifestations after COVID-19 vaccination

Abstract

With the onset of the global pandemic due to the new virus SARS-CoV-2 and the development of vaccines against it, various adverse events have been reported to them. We present a clinical case of a 53-year-old Caucasian woman who presented one week after Pfizer vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 with severe muscle weakness, myalgia in upper and lower extremities, alopecia 2 cm in diameter, and two mucosal ulcerations on lower lip. No deviations from the hematological, biochemical and immunological indicators were found from the laboratory tests carried out. Two weeks later, the patient developed total alopecia on the scalp. Due to the causal relationship with the administered vaccine, the patient was not given a second dose and a diagnosis of Systemic Connective Tissue Disease was not accepted. Six months later, recovery and partial hair growth was observed in the affected areas of the capillitium. Alopecia areata is autoimmune in nature, with literature reporting initial or recurrent alopecia after vaccination. It is important that adverse events after vaccination are properly evaluated in order to choose a proper therapeutic approach.