Wearing glasses could reduce the risk of contracting of coronavirus by three times, according to a new study.
Scientists in India found that wearing spectacles throughout the day could provide ‘significant protection’ against Covid-19.
The non-peer reviewed research selected 304 patients with coronavirus in Northern India and assessed how often they wear their glasses.
Findings were then compared with the spectacles wearing behaviour of the general population from older studies.
A total of 58 patients wore their glasses continuously during the day and always had them on during outdoor activities.
The risk of Covid-19 was found to be 0.48 in the glasses-wearing population compared to 1.35 in those not using specs.
It found that long-term use of glasses may prevent repeated touching and rubbing of the eyes - which is considered to be a route for the virus to spread.
Amit Kumar Saxena wrote: “The present study showed that the risk of Covid-19 was about 2-3 times less in spectacles wearing population than the population not wearing those.
“The protective effectiveness of spectacles was found statistically significant.”
The study also reported that people have a habit of touching their own face on average 23 times in an hour and the eyes on an average of three times per hour.
It added: “Transmission through contact occurs by touching the face, nose, mouth and eyes after direct contact and formites used by the infected person.
“A face mask reduces the amount of respiratory droplets and aerosols coming from the nose and mouth of the infected person during coughing sneezing or talking. It also protects us from self-inoculation of the virus.
“Touching one’s nose and mouth is significantly reduced when wearing a face mask properly. But it does not protect the eyes from getting the viral infection through respiratory droplets and self-inoculation.”
“Wearing the spectacles does not protect the eyes as much as goggles, yet it may provide some degree of protection.”
