Have problems been experienced in the treatment of eye patients during the COVID-19 pandemic?

Abstract

To investigate whether there are delays in the treatment of patients with eye diseases during the Covid-19 pandemic. Two hundred patients were included in the study. The problems experienced in the treatment of the patients due to the pandemic and the cause of these problems were investigated. The number of patients whose treatment was delayed was 84 and the mean delay time in treatment was 4.51±2.16 months. The patients who delayed the treatment the most were patients with glaucoma, retinal vascular occlusion, cataract, diabetes mellitus, age-related macular degeneration, and hypertension (86%, 75%, 64%, 53%, 43%, 33%, respectively). The rate of patients presenting due to decreased visual acuity was 24%. It was observed that 39% of all patients had coronaphobia. It is obvious that pandemic disrupts the treatment process of many diseases, including eye diseases. It will be beneficial to create new treatments and follow-up protocols for chronic eye diseases for pandemic periods. [Med-Science 2021; 10(2.000): 396-9]

Keywords

• coronaphobia
• coronavirus disease-2019 (covid-19)
• diabetes mellitus
• glaucoma
• pandemic
• vision loss