Does continuous wear of a face mask affect your tear film?

Abstract

The study's objective was to assess the effect of type of mask wear and duration, including short-term wear of mask on TBUT. This was a cross-sectional, comparative study. A total of 90 subjects were categorized into three groups, each comprising 30 subjects. Either the groups were given a surgical, cloth, or N95 masks to wear. Baseline TBUT was collected after 30 mins without mask wear; subsequently after 1 min of mask wear and after every 30 mins for 3.5 hours among all the three groups. TBUT changes within the groups and between the groups were compared using Friedman ANOVA and the Kruskal Wallis test. TBUT was stable among N95 wearers for first 30 minutes and declined among cloth & surgical mask users. A continuous significant difference was evident only from 2 hours among surgical and cloth mask users and at 3.5 hours within N95 users. N95 wearers have a higher TBUT, and surgical having the least. Surgical mask wears significantly influence tear film stability, followed by cloth mask wear because of air leak from nose wire. TBUT is minimally affected by N95 wear.