A weekly blog, hope the past week has been uneventful,
We discussed dealing with the current Covid crisis
, today I
would like to look at contact lenses and how they relate to our times. As you are aware, our world of social media
creates a lot of fake news and gets unfounded rumours flying around.
Can contact lens wear increase the risk of contracting Covid-19? Well, the rumour mill is telling us,
yes. Thankfully some clever people in
the industry, using evidence-based medicine did a literature search and
concluded that there is no increased Covid risk with contact lenses.
It doesn’t stop there, of course there are conditions. As always proper hygiene is critical. This means thorough washing of hands with
soap and water and thorough drying. No
hand sanitizers here, washing is more complete, and hand sanitizer leaves
residual alcohol that can get into the lens and burn the eyes. Clean and
disinfect contact lenses after each use.
Clean your contact lens case daily and let it air dry and regularly
replace your case. Do not wear your
contact lenses if you are sick and do not wear your lenses when you enter a wet
environment (swimming pool, Jacuzzi, shower) all greatly reduce the risk of infection of any kind.
These procedures or habits have always been required. We need to always remember that a contact lens
is a medical device and requires diligent care.
Those of us who wear glasses, need to take extra caution during
these times. The virus will remain on
hard surfaces for some time, so regular washing of spectacles, especially
readers, that are taken off and on regularly, is required.
Sorry to be a downer, but we are living in interesting
times.
Keep Safe, until next week,
The Good Doctor
Dr. Mark Germain, Optometrist, Burlington Eyecare
