Ocular surface assessment in times of sanitary crisis: What lessons and solutions for the present and the future?
Eur J Ophthalmol
; 31(2): 807-816, 2021 Mar.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-992310
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE:
To describe the immediate consequences of SARS-CoV-2 and the COVID-19 pandemic on the ocular surface and eye-care professionals, and to discuss the need for a mandatory switch from currently performed tele-screening to true teleconsultation for remote ocular surface assessment. MAINFINDINGS:
Ophthalmologists have been largely impacted by the COVID-19 sanitary crisis, due to both the ocular manifestations of SARS-CoV-2 and to the high contagiousness of the virus. The proximity of ophthalmologists to their patients have pushed eye-care providers to readapt their practices and develop alternatives to face-to-face consultations. However, teleconsultation has some major limitations and drawbacks, especially for ocular surface assessment that relies on high-quality graphic data for adequate diagnosis. Tele-screening, on the other hand, emphasizes on the importance of history-taking and listening to the patient in order to adequately prioritize appointments based on the presumed degree of emergency.CONCLUSION:
Despite all the enthusiasm, tele-screening as currently performed with the available tools is still not capable of completely replacing a standard ophthalmic examination for the assessment of ocular surface diseases. While waiting for new emerging technologies and future implementation of imaging modalities and artificial intelligence, decision making algorithms can help eye-practitioners remotely screen their patients to assess the optimal time for follow-up appointments.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Dry Eye Syndromes
/
Communicable Disease Control
/
Conjunctival Diseases
/
Corneal Diseases
/
Delivery of Health Care
/
SARS-CoV-2
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Diagnostic study
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
Eur J Ophthalmol
Journal subject:
Ophthalmology
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
1120672120978881
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