It is thought that Coronavirus infection occurs mainly by inhaling virus-laden droplets through your mouth or nose when someone with the virus coughs or sneezes, and also from touching an infected surface.
Coronavirus can also enter through your eyes
Infected droplets can enter through your eyes and through contact with the mucuous membranes that line your eyelids.
People who have Coronavirus can also spread the illness through their tears. Touching infected tears or a surface where such tears have landed can be another pathway to infection.
You can also become infected by touching something that has the virus on it — like a table or doorknob — and then touching your eyes.
Wearing glasses with gaskets can give you greater protection
Even wearing ordinary spectacles can give you a slightly increased level of protection from airborne droplets, but the virus can still get in at the sides, top and bottom of your glasses.
For a much more effective barrier, choose our special glasses that have a gasket (also called an eye cup).
The gasket rests comfortably around your eye sockets, protecting you from airborne hazards, as well as providing relief for dry eyes and blepharitis.
You can wear these special glasses in situations whererever you are closer to other people from whom you might catch the virus. For example, in an office or on public transport.
Indirect ways in which wearing our glasses can protect you
Wearing our glasses can also help reduce your chance of infection in two other ways.
Firstly by reducing the likelihood of you touching or rubbing your eyelids, and secondly by encouraging you to spend more time outdoors whatever the weather, where you are less likely to catch the virus.
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References:
This article is based on information published by the American Academy of Opthalmology on 10 March 2020, entitled Surprising Ties Between Coronavirus and the Eyes.