The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the diagnosis and treatment of skin cancers, a mini review

Abstract

Background: The SARS-Cov-2 pandemic has caused dermatologists around the world to adapt their practice in the aim of protecting patients with special clinical conditions such as those having skin cancers or premalignant conditions and some diagnostic or therapeutic programs would be suspended due to being infected to SARS-CoV-2. We focused the existing data in this regard through searching on PubMed, Google Scholar, and Scopus and tried to summarize recommendations for treating this group of patients in COVID era to provide a practical guide for clinicians. Recent findings: The number of diagnosed skin cancers dropped significantly since the beginning of the pandemic, specially in the peaks of various variants of the SARS-CoV-2 infection. The new guidelines allowed even a 3-month delay in excision and recommended surgery for non-melanoma growing skin cancers. Conclusion: Dermatologists should perform a careful, individualized risk–benefit assessment for their patients and consider some changes in routine protocols such as having a delayed diagnostic or therapeutic intervention.