Experts deem contact lens wear safe during COVID-19
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Contact lens wear is safe during the COVID-19 pandemic as long as proper hand washing and disinfecting procedures are followed, according to three experts quoted in a press release from the Centre for Ocular Research & Education.
“When using contact lenses or spectacles, careful and thorough hand washing with soap and water followed by hand drying with unused paper towels is paramount,” Lyndon Jones, PhD, DSc, FCOptom, FCAHS, DipCLP, DipOrth, FIACLE, FAAO; Philip Morgan, BSc, PhD, MCOptom, FAAO, FBCLA; and Jason J. Nichols, OD, MPH, PhD, FAAO, said in the release.
“For contact lens wearers, this should occur before every insertion and removal,” they said.
The three also emphasized the importance of disinfecting spectacles and glasses, as some viruses like coronavirus can remain on hard surfaces for hours to days.
They recommend discontinuing contact lens wear when sick and said that spectacles are not proven to offer protection.
Jones is director of the Centre for Ocular Research & Education at the University of Waterloo in Canada; Morgan is chair of the division of pharmacy and optometry at the University of Manchester, U.K.; and Nichols is associate vice president of research and a professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Optometry.