Letter to the Editor: Contact lens practice in the time of COVID-19.

Dear Editor,

This is in reference to the article titled “Contact lens practice in the time of COVID-19” by Zeri F and Naroo SA published in the current issue of the Contact Lens and Anterior Eye journal [1]. The authors have extensively reviewed the practice of ophthalmic contact lens (CL) during novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak. We would hereby like to suggest that the Figure 2 which should be replaced by a one more standard for referencing. As we all know that patient-to-ophthalmologist transmission of the new strain of coronavirus is a big threat to ophthalmic practice. Infectious droplets and body fluids (such as tears, conjunctival secretions, saliva) can easily contaminate the human conjunctival epithelium [2], so novel coronavirus may be transmitted through eye touching or rubbing. Whenever ophthalmologists and optometrists are examining patients, they should be fully gowned with protective suit and N95 respirator as well as masks, gloves and goggles [3,4]. At the same time, face protection, eye protection, nasal and oral mucosa protection as well as outer ear and hair protection are inevitably necessary. We know Figure 2 showing a large clear plastic sheet for precaution, however, in Figure 2, these precautions appear insufficient, including lack of medical hat for hair protection from droplets, facial masks and goggles for eye protection. Furthermore, CL practitioners and practitice staff with potential conditions of flu-like symptoms should not attend work. In Tianjin Eye Hospital, all the CL practitioners and staff are required to measure and report their own body temperatures, any symptoms such as fever, chills, sore throat, cough, sneeze, vomiting, diarrhoea or pneumonia as well as travel histories. Even reporting of their family members in required. Only strict infection control measures are implemented, the person-to-person transmission routes of COVID-19 in CL practice and hospitals would be blocked as soon as possible.

Author contributions

Hongxia Wang and Wenjun Kong contributed equally to the manuscript as co-first author.

Declaration of Competing Interest

No conflict of interest to be declared.

Role of the funder/sponsor

None of the funders had a role in the preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; and decision to submit the manuscript for publication.