Volume 27, Issue 131, January 2023

Practices and awareness toward contact lens wearing and care post-COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study

Tasneem Adil Banjar¹, Rawan Abdulaziz Alosaimy¹, Esraa Ibrahim Qashgry¹, Reem Ahmed Almalki¹, Raghad Faisal Alduais¹, Amjad Ahmed Alharthi¹, Ashjan Yousef A Bamahfouz²

¹MD, College of Medicine, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia
²Associate Professor, Department of Ophthalmology, College of Medicine, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia

ABSTRACT

Contact lens (CL) is an optical device with a thin layer applied directly to the cornea of the eye. CL primarily corrects refractive errors. Despite the advantages, it can cause serious complications if CL Wearer (CLW) fail to clean, disinfect and store them appropriately. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate CLWs' awareness and practices and evaluate the effect of the corona virus-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on the frequency of CL wearing and hygiene in Saudi Arabia. A descriptive cross-sectional study was directed at individuals wearing a CL in Saudi Arabia. A total of 1468 participants were involved in the investigation between February 2022 and October 2022. The participants completed a well-structured, Arabic-based, validated questionnaire. Participants' mean age was 26.6 ± 8.9 years. Of the participants, 84% were female and 89.1% had university-level education. Regarding hygiene practices, 86.6% of the participants washed their hands before CL use and 55.4% washed CLs daily before use. Approximately 15.2% of the participants reported that they share CLs with others and 10.5% wear them even while sleeping. Approximately 48.2% of the participants reported that their CL use decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, 40.1% reported that the frequency of washing hands before and after using CLs increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results of this study show that the majority of the participants had good CL-related hygiene practices and awareness of CL. Hence, during the COVID-19 pandemic, most participants reported a decrease in CL use and an increase in hand washing before and after CL use.

Keywords: Contact lens, Awareness, Practice, Hygiene, COVID-19

Medical Science, 2023, 27, e3ms2675

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.54905/disssi/v27i131/e3ms2675

Published: 01 January 2023