Influence of Face Mask on the Use of Soft Contact Lenses in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic is broadly streaked by face masks utilization. Face mask application has been believed as a potent reason of dry eye. We pursued to esteem the effectiveness of masks application on the visual quality of patients. Online questionnaire was carried to detect alterations happened with soft contact lenses usage during the pandemic relative to face masks employment. A total of 515 subjects participated in the study. Statistical analysis was performed with Microsoft Excel version 28 and proved that the use of contact lenses increased compared with before the pandemic (p ≥0.05). Subsequently, it was concluded that dry eye sensation was worse in monthly, weekly and daily contact lens wearers where p value was 0.037, 0.032 and 0.007 consecutively. Hence contact lens wearers, using a mask suffered from dry eye symptoms and reduced vision quality.