ABSTRACT
Purpose : Since the onset of the coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) pandemic, people's lives have adapted, with the use of face masks becoming a part of our daily routine. Despite being a useful device to prevent disease contagion, a marked increase in dry eye and stye symptoms has been detected. We aimed to perform an observational correlation analysis between face-mask use and to report both objective and subjective ocular surface measurements performed on a multi-purpose advanced corneal topographer and a high-definition camera. Methods : This study included 25 healthy subjects without any ocular diseases, ages ranging from 19 to 68 years. We measured tear meniscus height, Non-Invasive Tear Breakup Time (NIBUT), overall redness score, and tear film lipid layer characterization using Keratograph 5M (Oculus, Wetzlar, Germany), as well as Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI) scores for dry eye symptomatic assessments. Patients were asked the number of hours of mask-use at the moment of enrollment, the average hours of mask use daily, and the type of face mask used. We assessed for differences between OSDI scores and gender and type of mask used, as well as correlation coefficients for all subjective and objective measurements. Results : The mean age of the subjects was 42.44±14.49 years. OSDI scores had no significant differences according to gender (p = 0.1664) or type of mask used (p = 0.0791). Correlation between hours of mask use at the time of testing and ocular surface modifications were minimal. Hours of mask-use at the time of the test and OSDI scores were moderately correlated (r= 0.5047, p=0.01). No correlation was found between the average hours of mask use and any ocular surface measurements or OSDI scores. Conclusions : The use of face masks increased subjectively dry eye symptoms. Nevertheless, ocular surface objective measurements remain unchanged by maskwearing.