Chalazion and Face Mask Wear during COVID-19 Pandemic: Is There A Link?

Abstract

Alongside the use of face mask as a preventive measure during the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been noticed a high increase in chalazion incidence. Purpose: To determine whether or not using face mask is correlated to the rise in chalazion cases among patients. Material and Methods: This is a retrospective multicentric study, conducted in two different hospitals distanced by more than 500 Km (Rabat Military Hospital and Tetouan’s Provincial Hospital). Records of the operative rooms and medical visits of both centers were reviewed and patients with chalazion were included. We, then, determined the incidence of chalazion for each month between March and September of years 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022. The data collected was then processed by the software Jamovi 22.0. Results: It is clear through our data analyses that the chalazion incidence rose in the pandemic period compared to the same month of the years 2018, 2021 and 2022. The risk of developing chalazia also increased with the frequent use of face mask daily. Conclusion: face mask wear appears to have a direct link to chalazion formation. To keep a safe balance between the protective role of face mask and its adverse effect on the ocular surface stability, many measure may be proposed and appear to be quite efficient.