Protection of Eyes Important during COVID-19 Pandemic

Protection of eyes  is very important during Covid -19 Pandemic .  Protection of  your your eyes,  hands and  mouths  can have a great impact on slowing the spread of during Covid – 19 Pandemic .

When a person infected with the corona virus speaks or coughs, there are droplets formed through which the virus can be transmitted from one person to the other.

These are either inhaled through mouth or nose and it can even enter through the eyes.It can also spread when you touch an infected surface and then touch your eyes .

Corona virus can be a cause of pink eyes/conjunctivitis and in some rare cases it is the presenting symptom and precedes other symptoms of coronavirus disease.  

Also read  https://www.bbc.com/hindi/vert-fut-52345359

How to Protect  Eyes during COVID-19 Pandemic

Wash your hands regularly, avoid rubbing and touching your eyes and prefer glasses over contact lenses for the time being. So, along with protecting hands and mouth it’s also important to protect the eyes. 

Covid- 19  and Eye Care Service 

Eye care services like cataract surgery and other elective procedures may be unavailable for sometime to limit contact and to conserve vital medical supplies.While you should not pressurise your eye doctor to perform non emergency procedures and checkups, but you can insist on an examination if you have any of the following problems : 

1. Sudden loss of vision in one or both eye
2. Pain in the eye with redness or discharge
3. New excessive floaters or flashes of lights 
4. You have a chronic eye disease ( Diabetic retinopathy, Age related Macular Degeneration etc) and need regular eye checkup or eye injections. 
5. Unusual changes in vision 

For other complaints you can discuss it over a tele-consultation platform. 

Precautions in  Eye Hospital

1. Always take an appointment before visiting the hospital. 
2. Inform your eye doctor beforehand, if you have any symptoms ( dry cough, fever, breathlessness etc), history of foreign travel, contact with someone having corona disease. 
3. Restrict the number of people accompanying you to the hospital. 
4. There may be extended waiting time or you might be asked to wait outside the hospital, even if you have taken an appointment.    
5. Don’t forget to wear your mask while going to the hospital. 
6. Maintain and insist on social distancing while in the hospital premises.
7. Cover nose and mouth during coughing or sneezing with tissue or flexed elbow and wash your hands immediately after it. 
8. Some tests which were routinely done while visiting an eye hospital might be omitted to prevent the spread of disease. 
9. You might be asked to get some extra tests ( Blood investigations, Chest imaging, COVID testing etc) before any emergency surgical procedure. 
10. Hospitals might prefer card payment or online transfer instead of cash payments. 

Dr Diva Kant Misra

Consultant Ophthalmologist & Vitreoretina Surgeon, Lucknow, India. 

कृपया इसे भी सुनें