Impact of Prolonged Face Mask Wearing On Tear Break-Up Time and Dry Eye Symptoms in Health Care Professionals

Abstract Purpose To 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 Methods A total of 33 health care professionals were included in this cross sectional, prospective study. T-BUT measurements were performed twice for all participants in the morning (8 am) and in the afternoon (5 pm) in addition to a complete ophthalmological examination. The subjects also filled-in the ocular surface disease index (OSDI) questionnaire twice, before and after wearing the face mask, on the same day. Results Sixty 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). Conclusion Use of a surgical mask for the entire work day was seen to worsen T-BUT and dry eye symptoms in healthy individuals. Ophthalmologists should be aware of possible worsening of condition in patients with dry eye with the prolonged use of face masks and consider modifications if necessary.