Wearing eyeglasses all day could reduce the risk of transmission of the coronavirus.
- SARS CoV2 can be transmitted through the eyes, through contact with infected hands.
- Eyeglasses would offer additional protection to daily wearers since it would prevent them from touching their eyes.
What if eyeglasses were more effective than visors in protecting against Covid-19? This is suggested by a new study by Chinese researchers, the results of which are published in the journal Jama Ophthalmology.
The cohort of patients studied included 276 people diagnosed with Covid-19 and hospitalized in Suizhou, China. The proportion of daily wearers of glasses (more than 8 hours a day) was lower than that of the local population (5.8% against 31.5%). This low percentage could mean, according to the researchers, that wearers of glasses would be less likely to be infected with Covid-19.
Glasses would prevent transmission of the virus through the eyes
But how could wearing glasses protect us from the virus? The authors of the work recall that SARS CoV2 can be transmitted through the eyes, in contact with infected hands. However, according to them, having glasses on the eyes would prevent this type of contact and could provide protection to the person wearing them.
“Studies have shown that normal people involuntarily touch their eyes about 10 times per hour. The eyes generally lack protection, and an abundance of the Sars-CoV-2 receptor angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 has was found on the ocular surface through which Sars-CoV-2 can penetrate the human body”, explain the scientists.
In other words, eyeglasses would offer additional protection to daily wearers since it would prevent them from touching their eyes and limit the risk of transmission of the virus. At the start of the epidemic, the French Society of Ophthalmologists had also recommended that people accustomed to using contact lenses wear glasses, given the numerous manipulations that these objects require.
Broader research is needed
However, these observations only apply to people whose sight requires the wearing of glasses (or contact lenses), the patients cited in the study being, for example, all suffering from myopia. Wearing glasses for people who do not have any particular vision problem is therefore not recommended.
“None of our research participants wore contact lenses, so the association between contact lens wear and susceptibility to Covid-19 remains to be investigated,” also specify the authors of the research, who point out other limitations in their work, in particular the small sample of patients.
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