How Does Wearing a Facecover Influence the Eye Movement Pattern in Times of COVID-19?

Abstract

BackgroundSince the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic facecovers have become a common sight. The effect of facecovers on the gaze when looking at faces has not been assessed yet.ObjectiveThe aim of the present study is to investigate a potential difference in eye movement pattern in observes which are exposed to images showing a face without and with facecover to identify if there is truly a change of gaze when identifying (masked) facial features.Materials and MethodsThe eye movement of a total of 64 study participants (28 males and 36 females) with a mean age of 31.84±9.0 years was analyzed in this cross-sectional observational study. Eye movement analysis was conducted based on positional changes of eye features within an x- and y- coordinate system while two images (face without/with facecover) were displayed for 8 seconds.ResultsThe results of this study revealed that the sequence of focussing on facial regions was not altered when wearing a facecover and followed the sequence: perioral, nose, periorbital. Wearing a facecover significantly increased the time of focussing on the periorbital region and increased also the number of repeated eye fixations during the interval of visual stimulus presentation. No statistically significant differences were observed between male and female participants in their eye movement pattern across all investigated variables with p > 0.433.ConclusionAesthetic practitioners could utilized the presented data and develop marketing and treatment strategies which majorly target the periorbital area understanding the altered eye movement pattern in times of COVID-19.