Page 24 - Waterfall_Issue 5_2022

Waterfall News

IN THE EYE OF

THE BEHOLDER

COVID & the eye

By Dr Genevieve Ephraim, MBBCh (Wits), FCS (SA)(OPHTH),
Ophthalmic Surgeon Netcare Garden City and Sunninghill Hospitals

In December 2019, Wuhan, China, became

the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic. As

we subsequently discovered, SARS-Cov-2 is a

highly contagious coronavirus and is a single-

stranded RNA virus. It predominantly causes an

acute respiratory disease, which varies from mild

symptoms such as a dry cough, sore throat, fever,

diarrhoea, and loss of smell and taste, to severe Dr Genevieve Ephraim

disease characterised by diffuse lung infiltrates,

septic shock and multi-organ failure. Ocular

manifestations may be a part of COVID-19 infection.

O phthalmic manifestations may be a presenting - Photophobia (light sensitivity)

- Epiphora (tearing)
feature of COVID-19 infection, or they
may develop several weeks after recovery.
- Blurred vision
These manifestations can include:
- Increased secretions/discharge.
- Conjunctival (hyperaemia) redness - Eyelid Swelling
- Foreign body sensation
- Dry Eye Patients with ocular symptoms range widely from
less than 1% in some studies to more than 30% in
others. Published reports suggest that COVID-19
causes mild to moderate follicular conjunctivitis,
indistinguishable from other viral causes.

The virus can also be transmitted by airborne contact with
the conjunctiva. It is possible that patients exposed to the
virus by the ocular route may develop COVID-19 when the
virus is carried to the nasopharynx by the natural drainage
of tears via the tear duct. The ocular manifestations of
Follicular conjunctivitis following COVID-19

22 Waterfall Issue 5 2022