Israeli researchers have warned that patients who wear face masks during intravitreal injections may be at a higher risk of endophthalmitis.

The investigators from the Department of Ophthalmology at the Rabin Medical Center and the Sackler Faculty of Medicine at Tel Aviv University in Israel issued the warning following the results of their prospective, interventional study, in which 10 healthy volunteers wore three different surgical face masks while air leaks around their eyes were monitored.

When a patent is wearing a mask during intravitreal injections, they could be at an increased risk of endophthalmitis because exhaled air is tunneled toward the eyes, said lead author Dr Amir Hadayer.

For each different mask, the periocular area was inspected for air leak during normal respiration, speech and deep respiration, using professional thermal cameras. The experiment was repeated 45 times for each camera: three times for each of three mask types on five volunteers for a total of 90 trials.

“Until further data are available, we recommend verifying proper face mask fitting and either taping the upper edges of the face masks with a medical adhesive tape or using an adhesive surgical drape around the injected eye,” concluded the team.

The full results were published in Retina.