Ocular effects of Covid-19: An update

Eye health rarely figures in the literature regarding the Covid-19 disease, but it is more than likely that we will see more and more ocular consequences of the disease and its treatment in the coming year. Here is a brief summary of what we currently know.

One of the first providers to voice concerns regarding the spread of coronavirus in Chinese patients was Dr Li Wenliang, an ophthalmologist. He later died from Covid-19 and was believed to have contracted the virus from an asymptomatic glaucoma patient in his clinic. This, plus the high incidence of viral conjunctivitis in patients with Covid-19 (figure 1), initially led to some serious concerns about the risks both to the eye and to the eye care practitioner in terms of infection and infection routes. The subsequent confirmation of SARS-CoV-2 viral material being isolated in the tears further added to concerns about ocular risk and infection via ocular routes.