A/Prof. Colin Chan talks about Covid-19 and importance of ongoing eye care in Mivision

"Ophthalmologists say communication by optometrists, ophthalmologists and patients is more critical than ever right now, to minimise patient anxiety, advise them of service availability/special arrangements, and remind them of the need to attend appointments for disease management.

“Eye disease doesn’t go into lockdown just because we do,” said Associate Professor Colin Chan from Vision Eye Institute. “It’s not just about emergencies. For example, what happens to a patient with recurrent herpes keratitis who is on topical steroids if she/he is not seen? How about rapidly progressive young keratoconics, and patients with wet AMD?”

In addition to treating his patients’ existing conditions, A/Prof Chan said he is emphasising the need for chronic dry eye and allergy sufferers to, “more than ever, observe hand hygiene. I have not seen any data on this but theoretically they may be more susceptible to Covid-19 because of habits like eye rubbing and mucous fishing which increases face touching,” he explained." Source Mivision May 1 2020