Knowledge of Wearing Eyeglasses and Contact Lenses with COVID-19 Focused on Optometry Students

Purpose : The aim of this study was to investigate the level of knowledge about wearing eyeglasses and contact lenses (CL) related to COVID-19 in the pandemic situation among university optometry students. Methods : Among the data responding to the online survey from October to December 2020, 118 students who had no experience of infection with COVID-19 were included. The average age of subjects was 22.52±2.21 years, and there were 49 males (41.5%). The survey was constructed 30 questions including the characteristics, knowledge of eyeglasses (0~1 points), CL wearing (0~1 points) and care (0~2 points) relevant to COVID-19. Results : The knowledge level of eyeglasses related to COVID-19 was 0.72 points, 0.89 points for wearing CL, and 1.77 points for CL care on average. Subjects (96.6%) answered “yes” to “Properly hand washing before wearing glasses” as an infection compliance for COVID-19, but subjects (44.9%) showed a low score for “Eyeglasses do not provide complete protection”. subjects (90.7%) answered “yes” to the item “If you follow the guideline of CL, it remains a good option for healthy people”. In contrast, the detailed guideline which is “Wash and dry hands before inserting and removing CL”, “Monthly lens case replacement” and “If you are ill, temporarily stop wearing lenses” showed 69.5%, 64.4%, and 64.4% with answered "yes", respectively. Conclusion : We investigated the knowledge level of eyeglasses and CL among optometry students related to COVID-19. The general hand hygiene guidelines showed high scores, by contrast, it was found that detail and professional items require education.