Research carried out in an Indian hospital claims that people who wear glasses could decrease their risk of contracting Covid-19, however more data is needed to confirm their findings.
The research is not yet peer reviewed but the study’s author, Amit Kumar Saxena, an ophthalmologist from India’s National Programme for Control of Blindness has extensive experience in his field.
He said the virus could be passed from fluids protecting the eye to the upper throat via the tear duct and suggests ‘repeated touching and rubbing of the eyes’ could be a ‘significant route’ of transmission.
The doctor’s research found that all patients touched their face up to 23 times and their eyes three times each hour on average.
In total, 304 patients were sampled and 19% routinely wore glasses during the daytime.
Glasses-wearing patients were estimated to be 2.8 times less likely to become infected with COVID-19 than non glass-wearers.
Dr. Saxena outlines that this is a small sample group, and the study is over a short period of time. He also explained that socioeconomic factors may play a role as non-glasses wearers were more likely to be from less well off or less educated backgrounds.
Tell us your thoughts in the Facebook post and share this with your friends.