COVID-19-related Conjunctivitis Review: Clinical Features and Management.

PURPOSE: The ongoing coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has greatly impacted theworld. In this review article, we discuss the conjunctival and nasolacrimal mucosa as a potential route for the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) transmission, its ocular manifestations, and management.

METHODS: Literature review was conducted in the PubMed, Google Scholar and EMBASE databases using keywords such as "coronavirus", COVID-19", "SARS-CoV-2", "conjunctivitis", "ocular surface", "eye" and "ophthalmology".

RESULTS: The ocular surface may serve as an entry point and reservoir for the virus. Frequency of hand-eye contact was an independent risk factor for COVID-19-related conjunctivitis. Therefore, appropriate protective eyewear or face shields are recommended, especially for health-care workers. Bilateral conjunctival sampling within 9 days of symptom onset provides a higher positive yield rate. Pooled analysis shows an incidence of 11.4% (95%CI = 6.4-17.2%) of ocular manifestations in patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection, including hospitalized and non-hospitalized patients.

CONCLUSION: Conjunctivitis was the most common ocular manifestation, of which ocular redness or congestion, ocular pain, and follicular conjunctivitis were the most common presentation.COVID-19-related conjunctivitis has a self-limiting disease course, and treatment should be mainly supportive.