Assessment of the Effect of Wearing a Surgical Face Mask on Tear Film in Normal Eye Subjects

• Published in: Journal of ophthalmology 2022-08, Vol.2022, p.1-6
• Main Authors: Alanazi, Mana A., El-Hiti, Gamal A., Al-Tamimi, Rashid, Bawazir, Abdullah M., Almutleb, Essam S., Fagehi, Raied, Alanazi, Saud A., Masmali, Ali M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: COVID-19; Exocrine glands; Inflammation; Masks; Questionnaires; Software; Vitamin deficiency
• ISSN: 2090-004X; 2090-0058
• DOI: 10.1155/2022/2484997

Purpose. To assess the effect of wearing a face mask for a short time on the tear film parameters in normal eye subjects. Methods. Fifty-four normal eye subjects (14 female and 40 male) aged 18–40 years (23.8 ± 4.4 years) were recruited. A standardized patient evaluation of eye dryness was completed first, followed by noninvasive tear break-up time, phenol red thread, and tear ferning tests. A 5-minute gap was allowed between the tests. The subjects were asked to wear a surgical mask for one hour. The measurements were taken both before wearing a face mask and immediately after its removal. Results. Significant (Wilcoxon test) differences were found between the standardized patient evaluation of eye dryness (p=0.002) and the noninvasive tear break-up time scores (p0.05) were found between the phenol red thread scores and tear ferning grades before and after wearing face masks. Strong correlations (Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient, r) were found among the standardized patient evaluation of eye dryness score (r = 0.590; p