Coronavirus: 1 in 5 recovered patients suffer from dry eye symptoms, Hong Kong study finds
- Researchers from Chinese University of Hong Kong evaluated 228 recovered patients one to three months after diagnosis
- Most common symptom was blurred vision, followed by itching, pain or burning sensations, tearing or discharge and redness
Researchers from the department of ophthalmology and visual sciences also found the risk of dry eye disease (DED), which can significantly impair daily social and physical activities, was related to the severity of the infection.
Hong Kong recorded 7,685 coronavirus infections on Monday, while 168 deaths were reported, including 25 backlogged cases. The latest report brought the total number of confirmed cases in the city to 1,136,192, with 7,420 related deaths.
The research team evaluated 228 recovered Covid-19 patients one to three months after their diagnosis in 2020 and compared them with 109 healthy participants who had not been infected with the virus.
Researchers found that the patients who had previously caught Covid-19 were at a higher risk of developing symptoms relating to dry eye disease, with 21.5 per cent having at least one indicator associated with the condition.
The most common symptom was blurred vision, followed by itching, pain or burning sensations, tearing or discharge and redness, while grittiness, light sensitivity and lid swelling were the least common problems.