Assessment of the Effect of Wearing a Surgical Face Mask on Tear Film in Normal Eye Subjects

Purpose. To assess the e,ect of wearing a face mask for a short time on the tear,lm parameters in normal eye subjects. Methods. Fifty-four normal eye subjects (14 female and 40 male) aged 18-40 years (23.8 +/- 4.4 years) were recruited. A standardized patient evaluation of eye dryness was completed,rst, followed by noninvasive tear break-up time, phenol red thread, and tear ferning tests. A 5-minute gap was allowed between the tests. _e subjects were asked to wear a surgical mask for one hour. _e measurements were taken both before wearing a face mask and immediately after its removal. Results. Signi,cant (Wilcoxon test) di,erences were found between the standardized patient evaluation of eye dryness (p = 0.002) and the noninvasive tear break-up time scores (p < 0.001) before and after wearing face masks. No signi,cant di,erences (Wilcoxon test, p > 0.05) were found between the phenol red thread scores and tear ferning grades before and after wearing face masks. Strong correlations (Spearman's rank correlation coe-cient, r) were found among the standardized patient evaluation of eye dryness score (r = 0.590; p < 0.001), noninvasive tear break-up time measurements (r=0.631; p < 0.001), and the tear ferning grades (r = 0.517; p < 0.001) before and after wearing the mask. A medium correlation (r = 0.377; p = 0.005) was found between the noninvasive tear break-up time scores and tear ferning grades before wearing the mask. Conclusions. Wearing a surgical face mask for a short duration of one hour has an e,ect on ocular tear,lm in normal eye subjects. Dry eye symptoms and tear break-up increased after wearing a face mask compared with those experienced before wearing one.

Automated summary

Wearing a surgical face mask for a short duration has an effect on tear film parameters in normal eye subjects, resulting in increased dry eye symptoms and tear break-up time.