NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — As places start to reopen, don’t forget that in rare cases COVID-19 can be contracted through your eyes.
Dr. Marshall Hall, director of the emergency department at TriStar Skyline Medical Center, said it’s important that front-line workers protect their eyes when they’re around COVID-19 patients because of how they administer treatment. However, he said it would be pretty hard for droplets with viral particles to enter people's eyes out in public.
“The way to transmit the virus through the eyes is typically through contact so it’s generally not going to be spread through respiratory droplets through the eye. The respiratory droplets are usually spread through the respiratory track.” Dr. Hall said.
However if you decide to go out and about, don’t touch a surface and then touch your eye.
“Coronavirus, like any other respiratory virus, is going to infect the mucous membranes of our body so that includes the nose, the mouth, the throat, but also the eyes. The eyes have a mucous membrane called the conjuctiva, a clear mucus membrane that covers the eyelids as well as part of the eyes,” Hall said.
So while it’s rare, it’s important to be cognizant about eye transmission.
“We do know that certain patients with COVID-19 will get eye involvement with the infection. There was a recent report out of China where they specifically looked at this, and they found there was evidence of conjunctivitis or irritation of the eye,” Hall said.
As research develops, we can all do our part to stay informed and stay safe.
