Reduce Your Risk of Infection By Using Glasses
Touching your face can place you at risk of contracting coronavirus or other infectious diseases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Public health officials and doctors are advising everyone to become mindful of face touching, and to reduce or eliminate the habit if possible. For individuals who use prescription contacts, placing your contacts requires physical contact with the surface of your eye and eyelids.
If your hands have come into contact with a virus like the coronavirus, this can lead to the direct transmission of the disease. Patients may want to consider switching to glasses to reduce the risk of contracting an infection. Our office, which serves La Jolla, CA, Carmel Valley, CA, and other areas of San Diego, offers a wide range of designer glasses and premium lenses.
How Can Glasses Reduce My Risk of Infection?
Any steps that can be taken to reduce face touching will lower your risk of contracting coronavirus. The virus commonly spreads by means of contaminated surfaces. Anyone who is infected can spread the virus by touching an object or surface. If someone touches that object and then rubs their eye or scratches their nose, the virus can enter the new host and begin to propagate.
Wearing glasses allows individuals to enjoy corrected vision without the need for touching their face and risking infection. Even when wearing glasses, the extra precaution of regular handwashing should be taken to prevent contaminating the surface of your glasses.
Tips for Reducing Face Touching
Face touching is an involuntary habit. Although cutting out face touching entirely requires considerable effort, there are practical steps that can be taken to reduce the number of times you touch your face at home. Put a reminder (possibly a sticky note) where it will be seen every day. The reminder can read, “Don’t touch your face” or something similar to that.
When you are home, try wearing gloves for parts of the day. This trick helps to make you more aware of how often you touch your face. Many people touch their face without noticing it. Becoming mindful of the habit is the first step toward reducing the number of times per day you touch your face.
Additional Hygiene Tips
Beyond reducing the number of times you touch your face, washing your hands is an important step that can greatly reduce your risk of contracting coronavirus. If you are out of your home, hand sanitizer can be used. Out of consideration for others, if you do cough or sneeze, do not use your hands to cover your mouth. This can lead to further spreading of germs. Cough or sneeze into the sleeve of your arm.
Finally, follow city, county, and state guidelines regarding any shelter-in-place or shelter-at-home orders. The CDC has a website that can provide further advice.
Schedule Your Consultation Today
Any steps that reduce the potential for face touching can lower your risk of contracting coronavirus. If you notice that your glasses appear dated or worn, the eye care team at GW Eye Associates can have you fitted with new glasses that feel and look great. To schedule your next visit, contact us online or call (858) 454-4699.
