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It has been talked about for some time, especially for those suffering from chronic skin diseases and is exposed to the sun’s rays or artificial ultraviolet rays often necessary to better deal with skin disease. How should we behave, in terms of possible risk related to Covid-19? An important answer now comes from Italian science, which is committed to establishing whether the human body, exposed to solar radiation during the summer season or to artificial ones for the treatment of dermatological diseases, may be at greater risk of contracting the Sars-CoV virus infection. 2 or to favor its aggravation.
This is demonstrated by the study published in the Italian Journal of Dermatology and Venereology, the official organ of SIDeMaST (Italian Society of Dermatology and Sexually Transmitted Diseases). Let me be clear: it is always essential to preserve the skin with adequate protection, case by case, from solar radiation according to the advice of the dermatologist, to avoid “damage” that could prove deleterious in any case.
The answer of science
“In the light of the data in our possession, exposure to natural sun or artificial UV would not entail risks of increased susceptibility to the COVID-19 disease; it is also likely that in the event that the patient has recently been infected, the inflammatory response, responsible for the most damaging effects of the disease, may be much less exasperated – comments Giuseppe Monfrecola, photodermatology expert at the Federico II University of Naples “.
The study on the subject was conducted by the expert together with Gabriella Fabbrocini, councilor of SIDeMaST, with the collaboration of researchers Matteo Megna and Claudio Marasca. “In the review – explains Monfrecola – a series of systemic viral infectious diseases were taken into consideration, not just skin, and the effects of UV rays on the immune system that opposes them. We followed the guidelines of a survey methodology called ‘Prisma’ and of the ‘Moose’ proposal which give indications on how to ‘read’ the data thanks to established parameters; in our article we examined 101 studies from the international literature. What is really little known, even in the medical world, is that sunlight is able to systemically influence both the innate immune response, which we could define as ‘first aid force’, is the acquired, more targeted and specific one. In short, by exposing ourselves to the sun we ‘modulate’ our immune system, not only on the skin but also on a general level. And this happens both when we expose ourselves to the sun and to the light of phototherapy lamps ”.
In practice, therefore, this analysis underlines how it is likely that on the one hand the innate immune response, under the stimulus of Solar or artificial UV, contrasts the infection thanks not only to the activation of particular receptors, called TLRs, but also by producing vitamin D which, among its many effects, is at the basis of the production of so-called antimicrobial peptides. “On the other hand – concludes Monfrecola – it is shown that UV modulates acquired immunity by modifying the release of what are called proinflammatory cytokines responsible for the inflammatory storm at the origin of the most damaging effects of the COVID-19 disease”.
Peace of mind with phototherapy
According to Gabriella Fabbrocini “in Italy, as in most countries of the world, phototherapy with medical equipment with particular UV emission has been used for decades for the treatment of widespread forms of diseases such as psoriasis, vitiligo, atopic dermatitis. The data we analyzed in this review allow us to believe that dermatological patients suffering from these dermatoses can continue their phototherapy treatments; it is clear that all the hygiene and prevention rules suggested by the Health Authorities must be strictly observed. Obviously, considering that we are now in summer, it must be remembered that when you expose yourself to the sun’s rays you must do it gradually and always with adequate protection, more than ever necessary in these cases. For this reason – he concludes – the dermatologist should always be consulted who, on the basis of the phototype and any dermatological problems, will be able to advise everyone on how to get only the benefits from the sun, without risks “.
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