ArticleInternational ophthalmology2022
Impact of prolonged face mask wearing on tear break-up time and dry eye symptoms in health care professionals.
Article in International ophthalmology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 30 citations in OpenAlex.
- A systematic review of fit improvement strategies for respirators: lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic.BMC public health · 2025Pooled it
- Mask-associated dry eye disease following short-term facemask wear with or without nasal bridge taping among health workers at a Nigerian tertiary care facility: a cross-over randomized clinical trial.BMC ophthalmology · 2026Trial
- The effect of mask usage on dry eye symptoms and meibomian gland function in OSAS patients: an observational study.Sleep & breathing = Schlaf & Atmung · 2025Observational
- Real or MADE-up: Investigating Mask-Associated Dry Eye (MADE) as an emerging syndrome.Eye (London, England) · 2024Review
- Face Mask and Tear Film Stability: A Pilot Study of the Objective Measurement of Tear Break-Up Time.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Article
- Prolonged Face Mask Wearing Worsens Self-Reported Dry Eye Symptoms during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Dental Healthcare Practitioners.Acta stomatologica Croatica · 2023Article
- Perceived Eye-Related Symptoms and Influencing Factors in Hospital Nurses.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Microbiological Profile of Infectious Keratitis During Covid-19 Pandemic.Clinical ophthalmology (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2023Article
- The Ocular Surface Symptoms and Tear Film Parameters during and after COVID-19 Infection.Journal of clinical medicine · 2022Article
- Diurnal changes of noninvasive parameters of ocular surface in healthy subjects before and after continuous face mask wearing during the COVID-19 pandemic.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Is wearing a face mask associated with symptomatic dry eye disease among medical students during the COVID-19 era? An online survey.BMC ophthalmology · 2022Article
- The ocular symptoms and signs during the COVID-19 pandemic.PloS one · 2022Article
- Effect of surgical face mask wearing on tear film in women with a high body mass index.PloS one · 2022Article
- Alterations in tear film and wavefront parameters associated with different types of disposable surgical masks in healthcare personnel during working hours: a randomized trial.Therapeutic advances in ophthalmologyArticle
- Prevalence and Risk Factors Associated with Symptomatic Dry Eye in Nurses in Palestine During the COVID-19 Pandemic.SAGE open nursingArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeTo evaluate the impact of prolonged surgical face mask wearing on dry eye symptoms and tear film break-up time (T-BUT) in health care professionals. MATERIALS AND
methodsA total of 33 health care professionals were included in the present cross sectional prospective study. In addition to a complete ophthalmological examination T-BUT measurements were performed twice for all participants in the morning (8 am) and in the afternoon (5 pm). The subjects also filled-in the ocular surface disease index (OSDI) questionnaire twice, before and after wearing the face mask, on the same day.
resultsSixty-six eyes of 33 participants (17 female and 16 male) were evaluated. The mean age was 33.6 ± 7.55 (24-48) years and mean total duration with mask on between the two evaluations was 514 ± 12.5 (495-526) minutes. The mean T-BUT was 9.3 ± 1.0 (3-16) seconds at 8 am and 8.3 ± 1.5 (3-14) seconds at 5 pm (p = 0.01). The mean OSDI score was 20.1 ± 8.3 (0-68.75) at 8 am and 27.4 ± 10.4 (0-81.25) at 5 pm (p < 0.01).
conclusionUse of a surgical mask for the entire work-day was seen to worsen T-BUT and increase dry eye symptoms in healthy individuals. Ophthalmologists should be aware of the possibility of worsening of dry eye symptoms with the prolonged use of surgical face masks and consider modifications if necessary.
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