Contact lens practice in the time of COVID-19

Contact lens wear during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…The COVID-19 pandemic which has swept the world since the start of 2020 is unprecedented in modern times and is having a considerable impact on day-to-day lives including contact lens practice [1]. A recent review in this journal found no relationship between contact lens use and COVID-19 infection [2], perhaps in part because it is rare to find the SARS-CoV-2 virus even in the tear films of patients who have tested positive for the disease [3].…”

COVID-19 Pandemic: Survey of future use of personal protective equipment in optometric practice

“…The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the rapid spread of cases of COVID-19 a pandemic on 11 th March, 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic is a challenging situation for the general population and especially for eye care practitioners working in close proximity to patients [1][2][3]. At the beginning of Austria and Switzerland were only offering emergency services during restricted opening times.…”

The ocular surface, coronaviruses and COVID‐19

“…For these situations, eye-care practitioners have been advised to take significant precautions to protect themselves and their patients from potential viral transmission. Five steps were recently summarised in relation to contact lens practice in particular, 9,81 including ensuring the patient is well, wearing personal protective equipment (PPE), [81][82][83][84][85] installation of a protective shield on the slitlamp biomicroscope, 7 and thorough sanitisation of hands and all surfaces pre-and post-visit. The precautions listed above are necessary to limit exposure of both the patient and eye-care practitioner to the virus, and should remain in place until such time that the pandemic has been declared over or other measures can be implemented.…”

“…7 Subsequently, there has been a great deal of interest in the scientific literature as well as in the lay press about the association of SARS-CoV-2 with the ocular surface. This has resulted in speculation regarding the safety of contact lenses, 8,9 as well as the potential for transmission of the virus to and from the ocular surface, with implications for transmission among the general population and specifically in ophthalmic care.…”